Rang 
Shelf. 


Received 


RISE  AND   PROGRESS 


RELIGION  IN  THE  SOUL 


ILLUSTRATED  IN  A  COURSE  OT 


SERIOUS  AND  PRACTICAL  ADDRESSES, 


PERSONS  OF  EVERY  CHARACTER  AND  CIRCUMSTANCE, 


A  DEVOUT  MEDITATION,  OR  PRAYER, 

SUBJOINED  TO  EACH  CHAPTER 

/ 

BY   PHILIP  DODD 


UIFOR*' 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE 


AMERICAN   TRACT   SOCIETY, 

150   NASSAU-STREET,   NEW  YORK. 


lags*- 


This  volume  is  stereotyped  and  perpetuated,  through  the 
liberality  of  Col.  Henry  Rutgers  and  Col.  Richard  Varick,  of 
New  York ;  Nicholas  Brown,  Esq.,  of  Providence  ;  and  Hon. 
Stephen  Van  Rensselaer,  of  Albany. 


I 


CONTENTS, 


PAGE 

Preface, 7 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  introduction  to  the  work,  with  some  general  account  of 

its  design, 11 

A  prayer  for  the  success  of  it,  in  promoting  the  rise  and  prog- 
ress of  religion, 23 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  careless  sinner  awakened, 27 

The  meditation  of  a  sinner  who  was  once  thoughtless,  but 

begins  to  be  awakened, 39 

CHAPTER  III. 
The  awakened  sinner  urged  to  immediate  consideration,  and 

cautioned  against  delay, 43 

A  prayer  for  one  who  is  tempted  to  delay  applying  to  religion, 
though  under  some  conviction  of  its  importance,      .     .     52 
CHAPTER  IV. 

The  sinner  arraigned  and  convicted, 56 

The  confession  of  a  sinner,  convinced  in  general  of  his  guilt,  69 
CHAPTER  V. 

The  sinner  stripped  of  his  vain  pleas, 72 

The  meditation  of  a  convinced  sinner,  giving  up  his  vain  pleas 

before  God, 84 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  sinner  sentenced, 87 

The  reflection  of  a  sinner,  struck  with  the  terror  of  his  sen- 
tence,   97 

CHAPTER  VII. 

The  helpless  state  of  the  sinner  under  condemnation,      .  100 
The  lamentation  of  a  sinner  in  this  miserable  condition,     107 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

News  of  salvation  by  Christ  brought  to  the  convinced  and  con- 
demned sinner, 110 

The  sinner's  reflection  on  this  good  news, 119 


4  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

A  more  particular  account  of  the  way  by  \fhich  this  salvation 
is  to  be  obtained, 122 

The  sinner  deliberating  on  the  expediency  of  falling  in  with 

this  method  of  salvation, 133 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  sinner  seriously  urged  and  entreated  to  accept  of  salva- 
tion in  this  way, 137 

The  sinner  yielding  to  these  entreaties,  and  declaring  his  ac- 
ceptance of  salvation  by  Christ, ,  .  .  145 

CHAPTER  XI. 

A  solemn  address  to  those  who  will  not  be  persuaded  to  fall 
in  with  the  design  of  the  Gospel, 148 

A  compassionate  prayer  in  behalf  of  the  impenitent  shiner,  166 
CHAPTER  XII. 

An  address  to  a  soul  so  overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of  the  great- 
ness of  its  sins,  that  it  dares  not  apply  itself  to  Christ  with 
any  hope  of  salvation, 170 

Reflection  on  the  encouragements  he  has  to  do  it,  ending  in  an 
humble  and  earnest  application  to  Christ  for  mercy,  .  177 
»  CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  doubting  soul  more  particularly  assisted  in  its  inquiries  as 
to  the  sincerity  of  its  faith  and  repentance,  ....  181 

The  soul  submitting  to  divine  examination  the  sincerity  of  its 

repentance  and  faith, 189 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

A  more  particular  view  of  the  several  branches  of  the  Chris- 
tian temper  ;  by  which  the  reader  may  be  further  assisted 
in  judging  what  he  is,  and  what  he  should  endeavor  to  be,  192 

A  review  of  the  several  branches  of  this  temper,  in  a  scriptural 

prayer, 211 

CHAPTER  XV. 

The  reader  reminded  how  much  he  needs  the  assistance  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  to  form  him  to  this  temper,  and  what  encour- 
agement he  has  to  expect  it, 217 

An  humble  supplication  for  the  influences  of  divine  grace  to 
form  and  strengthen  religion  in  the  soul, 224 


CONTENTS.  5 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Christian  convert  warned  of,  and  animated  against  those 
discouragements  which  he  must  expect  to  meet  when  enter- 
ing on  a  religious  course, 228 

The  soul,  alarmed  by  a  sense  of  these  difficulties,  committing 

itself  to  divine  protection, 235 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  Christian  urged  to,  and  assisted  in  an  express  act  of  self- 
dedication  to  the  service  of  God, 238 

An  example  of  self- dedication, 242 

Together  with  an  abstract  of  it,  to  be  used  with  proper  and 

requisite  alterations, 250 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

On  communion  in  the  Lord's  supper, 253 

A  prayer  for  one  who  desires  to  attend,  yet  has  some  remain- 
ing doubts  concerning  his  right  to  that  solemn  ordinance,  260 
CHAPTER  XIX. 

Some  more  particular  directions  for  maintaining  continual 
communion  with  God,  or  being  in  his  fear  all  the  day  long ; 
in  a  letter  to  a  pious  friend, 264 

A  serious  view  of  death,  proper  to  be  taken  as  we  lie  down  on 

our  beds, 285 

CHAPTER  XX. 

A  serious  persuasive  to  such  a  method  of  spending  our  days,  288 

A  prayer  suited  to  the  state  of  a  soul  who  longs  to  attain  such 

a  life, 299 

CHAPTER  XXL 

A  caution  against  various  temptations,  by  which  the  young 
convert  may  be  drawn  aside  from  the  course  before  recom- 
mended,  304 

The  young  convert's  prayer  for  divine  protection  from  the 

danger  of  these  snares, .  317 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

The  case  of  spiritual  decay  and  languor  in  religion,    .     .  320 

A  prayer  for  one  under  spiritual  decays,     .     ,          .     .     331 


6  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

The  sad  case  of  a  relapse  into  known  and  deliberate  sin,  after 
solemn  acts  of  dedication  to  God,  and  some  progress  made 

in  religion,       . 336 

A  prayer  for  one  who  has  fallen  into  gross  sin,  after  religious 

resolutions  and  engagements, 347 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

The  case  of  the  Christian  under  the  hidings  of  God's  face,   353 
An  humble  supplication  for  one  under  the  hidings  of  God's 

face, 368 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

The  Christian  struggling  under  great  and  heavy  affliction,    373 
An  address  to  God  under  the  pressure  of  heavy  affliction,  379 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

The  Christian  assisted  in  examining  into  his  growth  in  grace,  385 
The  Christian  breathing  earnestly  after  growth  in  grace,   398 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

The  advanced  Christian  reminded  of  the  mercies  of  God,  and 
exhorted  to  the  exercise  of  habitual  love  to  him,  and  joy  in 

him, 400 

An  example  of  the  genuine  workings  of  this  grateful  joy  in 

God, 408 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
The  established  Christian  urged  to  exert  himself  for  purposes 

of  usefulness, 415 

The  Christian  breathing  after  more  extensive  usefulness,    430 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

The  Christian  rejoicing  in  the  views  of  death  and  judgment,  433 
The  meditation  and  prayer  of  a  Christian  whose  heart  is 

warmed  with  these  prospects, 445 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

The  Christian  honoring  God  by  his  dying  behavior,       .     449 
A  meditation  and  prayer  suited  to  the  case  of  a  dying  Chris- 
tian,       461 

Brief  notice  of  the  Life  of  Dr.  Doddridge, 469 


PREFACE. 


THE  several  hints  given  in  the  first  chapter  of  this 
treatise,  which  contains  a  particular  plan  of  the  design, 
render  it  unnecessary  to  introduce  it  with  a  long  preface. 
My  much  honored  friend  Dr.  WATTS  had  laid  the  scheme, 
especially  of  the  former  part.  But  as  those  indispositions 
with  which  God  has  been  pleased  to  exercise  him,  had 
forbid  his  hopes  of  being  able  to  add  this  to  his  many 
labors  of  love  to  immortal  souls,  he  was  pleased,  in  a  very 
affectionate  and  importunate  manner,  to  urge  me  to  un- 
dertake it.  And  I  bless  God  with  my  whole  heart,  not 
only  that  he  hath  carried  me  through  this  delightful  task, 
for  such .  indeed  I  have  found  it,  but  also  that  he  hath 
spared  that  worthy  and  amiable  person  to  see  it  accom- 
plished, and  given  him  strength  and  spirit  to  review  so 
considerable  a  part  of  it  His  approbation,  expressed  in 
stronger  terms  than  modesty  will  permit  me  to  repeat, 
encourages  me  to  hope  that  it  is  executed  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  may,  by  the  divine  blessing,  render  it  of  some 
general  service.  And  I  the  rather  hope  it  will  be  so,  as 
it  now  comes  abroad  into  the  world,  not  only  with  my 
own  prayers  and  his,  but  also  with  those  of  many  other 
pious  friends,  which  I  have  been  particularly  careful  to 
engage  for  its  success. 

Into  whatever  hands  this  work  may  come,  I  must  de- 


PREFACE. 

sire  that,  before  any  pass  their  judgment  upon  it,  they 
would  please  to  read  it  through,  that  they  may  discern 
the  connection  between  one  part  of  it  and  another ;  which 
I  the  rather  request,  because  I  have  long  observed  that 
Christians  of  different  parties  have  been  eagerly  laying 
hold  on  particular  parts  of  the  system  of  divine  truth, 
and  have  been  contending  about  them,  as  if  each  had 
been  all;  or  as  if  the  separation  of  the  members  from 
each  other,  and  from  the  head,  were  the  preservation  of 
the  body,  instead  of  its  destruction.  They  have  been 
zealous  to  espouse  the  defence,  and  to  maintain  the  honor 
and  usefulness  of  each  apart;  whereas  the  honor,  as  well 
as  the  usefulness,  seems  to  me  to  lie  much  in  their  con- 
nection ;  and  suspicions  have  often  arisen  between  the 
respective  defenders  of  each,  which  have  appeared  as 
unreasonable  and  absurd,  as  if  all  the  preparations  for 
securing  one  part  of  a  ship  in  a  storm,  were  to  be  cen- 
Bured  as  a  contrivance  to  sink  the  rest.  I  pray  God  to 
give  to  all  his  ministers  and  people  more  and  more  of  the 
spirit  of  wisdom,  and  of  love,  and  of  a  sound  mind ;  and 
to  remove  far  from  us  those  mutual  jealousies  and  ani- 
mosities which  hinder  our  acting  with  that  unanimity 
which  is  necessary  in  order  to  the  successful  carrying  on 
of  our  common  warfare  against  the  enemies  of  Chris- 
tianity. We  may  be  sure  these  enemies  will  never  fail 
to  make  their  own  advantage  of  our  multiplied  divisions 
and  severe  contests  with  each  other.  But  they  must 
aecessarily  lose  both  their  ground  and  their  influence,  in 
proportion  to  the  degree  in  which  the  energy  of  Christian 
principles  is  felt  to  unite  and  transform  the  heart  of  those 
by  whom  they  are  professed. 


PREFACE,  9 

I  have  studied  in  this  treatise  the  greatest  plainness 
of  speech,  that  the  lowest  of  my  readers  may,  if  possible, 
be  able  to  understand  every  word ;  and  I  hope  persons  of 
a  more  elegant  taste  and  refined  education  will  pardon 
what  appeared  to  me  so  necessary  a  piece  of  charity. 
Such  a  care  in  practical  writings  seems  one  important 
instance  of  that  honoring  all  men,  which  our  amiable  and 
condescending  religion  teaches  us;  and  I  have  been  par- 
ticularly obliged  to  my  worthy  patron  for  what  he  has 
done  to  shorten  some  of  the  sentences,  and  to  put  my 
meaning  into  plainer  and  more  familiar  words. 

I  must  add  one  remark  here,  which  I  heartily  wish  I 
had  not  omitted  in  the  first  edition,  namely,  That  though 
I  do  in  this  book  consider  my  reader  as  successively  in  a 
great  variety  of  supposed  circumstances,  beginning  with 
those  of  a  thoughtless  sinner,  and  leading  him  through 
several  stages  of  conviction,  terror,  etc.,  as  what  may  be 
previous  to  his  sincerely  accepting  the  Gospel,  and  de- 
voting himself  to  the  service  of  God ;  yet  I  would  by  no 
means  be  thought  to  insinuate,  thai  every  one  who  is  brought 
to  that  happy  resolution,  arrives  at  it  through  those  particular 
steps,  or  feels  agitations  of  mind  equal  in  degree  to  those  1 
have  described.  Some  sense  of  sin,  and  some  serious  and 
humbling  apprehensions  of  our  danger  and  misery  in  con- 
sequence of  it,  must  indeed  be  necessary  to  dispose  us  to 
receive  the  grace  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  Saviour  who  is 
there  exhibited  to  our  faith.  But  God  is  pleased  some- 
times to  begin  the  work  of  his  grace  in  the  heart  almost 
from  the  first  dawning  of  reason,  and  to  carry  it  on  by 
such  gentle  and  insensible  degrees,  that  very  excellent 
persons,  who  have  made  the  most  eminent  attainments  in 


10  PREFACE. 

the  divine  life,  have  been  unable  to  recount  any  remark- 
able history  of  their  conversion.  And  so  far  as  I  can 
learn,  this  is  most  frequently  the  case  with  those  of  them 
who  have  enjoyed  the  benefit  of  a  pious  education,  when 
it  has  not  been  succeeded  by  a  vicious  and  licentious 
youth.  God  forbid,  therefore,  that  any  should  be  so  in- 
sensible of  their  own  happiness  as  to  fall  into  perplexity 
with  relation  to  their  spiritual  state,  for  want  of  being 
able  to  trace  such  a  rise  of  religion  in  their  minds  as  it 
was  necessary  on  my  plan  for  me  to  describe  and  exem- 
plify here.  I  have  spoken  my  sentiments  on  this  head 
BO  fully  in  the  eighth  of  my  Sermons  on  Regeneration, 
that  I  think  none  who  has  read  and  remembers  the  gen- 
eral contents  of  it,  can  be  in  danger  of  mistaking  my 
meaning  here.  But  as  it  is  very  possible  that  this  book 
may  fall  into  the  hands  of  many  who  have  not  read  the 
other,  and  have  no  opportunity  of  consulting  it,  I  thought 
it  proper  to  insert  this  caution  in  the  preface  to  this ;  and 
I  am  much  obliged  to  that  worthy  and  excellent  person 
who  kindly  reminded  me  of  the  expediency  of  doing  it 

PHILIP  DODDRIDGE. 


THE 

RISE  AND  PROGRESS 

OF 

RELIGION  IN  THE  SOUL, 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  WORK,  WITH  SOME  GENERAL 
ACCOUNT  OF  ITS  DESIGN. 

1,2.  That  true  religion  is  very  rare,  appears  from  comparing 
the  nature  of  it  with  the  lives  and  characters  of  men  around 
us. — 3.  The  want  of  it  matter  of  just  lamentation. — 4.  To 
remedy  this  evil  is  the  design  of  the  ensuing  treatise.— 
5,  6.  To  which,  therefore,  the  author  earnestly  bespeaks  the 
attention  of  the  reader,  as  his  own  heart  is  deeply  interested 
in  it. — 7  to  12.  A  general  plan  of  the  work ;  of  which  the 
first  fifteen  chapters  relate  chiefly  to  the  rise  of  religion,  and 
the  remaining  chapters  to  its  progress. — Prayer  for  the  success 
of  the  work. 

1.  WHEN  we  look  around  us  with  an  attentive 
eye,  and  consider  the  characters  and  pursuits  of  men, 
we  plainly  see,  that  though,  in  the  original  constitu- 
tion of  their  natures,  they  only,  of  all  the  creatures 
that  dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  are  capable  of 
religion,  yet  many  of  them  shamefully  neglect  it 


12  RISE    AND   PROGRESS. 

And  whatever  different  notions  people  may  entertain 
of  what  they  call  religion,  all  must  agree  in  owning 
that  it  is  very  far  from  being  a  universal  thing. 

2.  Religion,  in  its  most  general  view,  is  such  a 
sense  of  God  in  the  soul,  and  such  a  conviction  of 
our  obligations  to  him,  and  of  our  dependence  upon 
him,  as  shall  engage  us  to  make  it  our  great  care  to 
conduct  ourselves  in  a  manner  which  we  have  rea- 
son to  believe  will  be  pleasing  to  him.  Now,  when 
we  have  given  this  plain  account  of  religion,  it  is  by 
no  means  necessary  that  we  should  search  among 
the  savages  of  distant  Pagan  nations  to  find  instances 
of  those  who  are  strangers  to  it.  "When  we  view 
the  conduct  of  the  generality  of  people  at  home,  in  a 
Christian  and  Protestant  nation,  in  a  nation  whose 
obligations  to  God  have  been  singular,  almost  beyond 
those  of  any  other  people  under  heaven,  will  any  one 
presume  to  say  that  religion  has  a  universal  reign 
among  us?  Will  any  one  suppose  that  it  prevails 
in  every  life ;  that  it  reigns  in  every  heart  ?  Alas, 
the  avowed  infidelity,  the  profanation  of  the  name 
and  day  of  God,  the  drunkenness,  the  lewdness,  the 
injustice,  the  falsehood,  the  pride,  the  prodigality,  the 
base  selfishness,  and  stupid  insensibility  about  the 
spiritual  and  eternal  interests  of  themselves  and 
others,  which  so  generally  appear  among  us,  loudly 
proclaim  the  contrary.  So  that  one  would  imagine, 
'upon  this  view,  that  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands 


RELIGION    NOT    UNIVERSAL.  13 

thought  the  neglect,  and  even  the  contempt  of  re- 
ligion, were  a  glory,  rather  than  a  reproach.  And 
where  is  the  neighborhood,  where  is  the  society,  where 
is  the  happy  family,  consisting  of  any  considerable 
number,  in  which,  on  a  more  exact  examination,  we 
find  reason  to  say,  "  religion  fills  even  this  little  cir- 
cle?" There  is,  perhaps,  a  freedom  from  any  gross 
and  scandalous  immoralities,  and  external  decency 
of  behavior,  an  attendance  on  the  outward  forms  oi 
worship  in  public,  and,  here  and  there,  in  the  family ; 
yet  amidst  all  this,  there  is  nothing  which  looks  like 
the  genuine  actings  of  the  spiritual  and  divine  life. 
There  is  no  appearance  of  love  to  God,  no  reverence 
of  his  presence,  no  desire  of  his  favor  as  the  highest 
good :  there  is  no  cordial  belief  of  the  Gospel  of  sal- 
vation ;  no  eager  solicitude  to  escape  that  condemna- 
tion which  we  have  incurred  by  sin ;  no  hearty  con- 
cern to  secure  that  eternal  life  which  Christ  has 
purchased  and  secured  for  his  people,  and  which  he 
freely  promises  to  all  who  will  receive  him.  Alas, 
whatever  the  love  of  a  friend,  or  even  a  parent  can 
do ;  whatever  inclination  there  may  be  to  hope  all 
things,  and  believe  all  things  the  most  favorable,  evi- 
dence to  the  contrary  will  force  itself  upon  the  mind, 
and  extort  the  unwilling  conclusion,  that,  whatever 
else  may  be  amiable  in  this  dear  friend — in  that  fa- 
vorite child — "  religion  dwells  not  in  his  breast." 
3.  To  a  heart  that  firmly  believes  the  Gospel,  and 


14  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

views  persons  and  things  in  the  light  of  eternity,  this 
is  one  of  the  most  mournful  considerations  in  the 
world.  And  indeed,  to  such  a  one,  all  other  calam- 
ities and  evils  of  human  nature  appear  trifles,  when 
compared  with  this — the  absence  of  real  religion , 
and  that  contrariety  to  it  which  reigns  in  so  many 
thousands  of  mankind.  Let  this  be  cured,  and  all 
the  other  evils  will  easily  be  borne ;  nay,  good  will 
be '  extracted  out  of  them.  But  if  this  continue,  it 
"bringeth  forth  fruit  unto  death,"  Rom.  7:5;  and 
in  consequence  of  it,  multitudes,  who  share  the  en- 
tertainments of  an  indulgent  Providence  with  us, 
and  are  at  least  allied  to  us  by  the  bond  of  the  same 
common  nature,  must,  in  a  few  years,  be  swept  away 
into  utter  destruction,  and  be  plunged,  beyond  re- 
demption, into  everlasting  burnings. 

4.  I  doubt  not  but  there  are  many,  under  the  va- 
rious forms  of  religious  profession,  who  are  not  only 
lamenting  this  in  public,  if  their  office  in  life  calls 
them  to  an  opportunity  of  doing  it,  but  are  likewise 
mourning  before  God  in  secret,  under  a  sense  of  this 
sad  state  of  things ;  and  who  can  appeal  to  Him  that 
searches  all  hearts,  as  to  the  sincerity  of  their  desires 
to  revive  the  languishing  cause  of  vital  Christianity 
and  substantial  piety.  And  among  the  rest,  the  au- 
thor of  this  treatise  may  with  confidence  say,  it  is  this 
which  animates  him  to  the  present  attempt,  in  the 
midst  of  so  many  other  cares  and  labors.  For  this  he 


THE   AUTHOR'S    DESIGN.  15 

9 

is  willing  to  lay  aside  many  of  those  curious  amuse- 
ments in  science  which  might  suit  his  own  private 
taste,  and  perhaps  open  a  way  for  some  reputation 
in  the  learned  world.  For  this  he  is  willing  to  waive 
the  labored  ornaments  of  speech,  that  he  may,  if  pos- 
sible, descend  to  the  capacity  of  the  lowest  part  of 
mankind.  For  this  he  would  endeavor  to  convince 
the  judgment,  and  to  reach  the  heart  of  every  reader ; 
and,  in  a  word,  for  this,  without  any  dread  of  the 
name  of  an  enthusiast,  whoever  may  at  random  throw 
it  out  upon  the  occasion,  he  would,  as  it  were,  enter 
with  you  into  your  closet,  from  day  to  day ;  and  with 
all  plainness  and  freedom,  as  well  as  seriousness, 
would  discourse  to  you  of  the  great  things  which  he 
has  learned  from  the  Christian  revelation,  and  on 
which  he  assuredly  knows  your  everlasting  happiness 
to  depend ;  that,  if  you  hitherto  have  lived  without 
religion,  you  may  be  now  awakened  to  the  considera- 
tion of  it,  and  may  be  instructed  in  its  nature  and  im- 
portance ;  or  that,  if  you  are  already,  through  divine 
grace,  experimentally  acquainted  with  it,  you  may 
be  assisted  to  make  a  farther  progress. 

5.  But  he  earnestly  entreats  this  favor  of  you,  that, 
as  it  is  plainly  a  serious  business  we  are  entering  up- 
on, you  would  be  pleased  to  give  him  a  serious  and 
an  active  hearing.  He  entreats  that  these  addresses, 
and  these  meditations,  may  be  perused  at  leisure,  and 
be  thought  over  in  retirement ;  and  that  you  would 


16  RlriE    AND    PROGRESS. 

do  him  and  yourself  the  justice  to  believe  the  repre- 
sentations which  are  here  made,  and  the  warnings 
which  are  here  given,  to  proceed  from  sincerity  and 
love,  from  a  heart  that  would  not  designedly  give  one 
moment's  unnecessary  pain  to  the  meanest  creature 
on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  much  less  to  any  human 
mind.  If  he  be  importunate,  it  is  because  he  at  least 
imagines  that  there  is  just  reason  for  it,  and  fears, 
lest,  amidst  the  multitudes  who  are  undone  by  the 
utter  neglect  of  religion,  and  among  those  who  are 
greatly  damaged  for  want  of  a  more  resolute  and 
constant  attendance  to  it,  this  may  be  the  case  of 
some  into  whose  hands  this  treatise  may  fall. 

6.  He  is  a  barbarian,  and  deserves  not  to  be  called 
a  man,  who  can  look  upon  the  sorrows  of  his  fellow- 
creatures  without  drawing  out  his  soul  unto  them, 
and  wishing,  at  least,  that  it  were  in  the  power  of 
his  hand  to  help  them.  Surely  earth  would  be  a 
heaven  to  that  man  who  could  go  about  from  place 
to  place  scattering  happiness  wheresoever  he  came, 
though  it  were  only  the  body  that  he  were  capable  of 
relieving,  and  though  he  could  impart  nothing  better 
than  the  happiness  of  a  mortal  life.  But  the  happi- 
ness rises  in  proportion  to  the  nature  and  degree  of 
the  good  which  he  imparts.  Happy,  are  we  ready 
to  say,  were  those  honored  servants  of  Christ,  who, 
hi  the  early  days  of  his  church,  were  the  benevolent 
and  sympathizing  instruments  of  conveying  miracu- 


TLAN   OF   THE   WORK.  17 

ulous  healing  to  those  whose  cases  seemed  desperate ; 
who  poured  in  upon  the  blind  and  the  deaf  the  pleas- 
ures of  light  and  sound,  and  called  up  the  dead  to 
the  powers  of  action  and  enjoyment.  But  this  is  an 
honor  and  happiness  which  it  is  not  fit  for  God  com- 
monly to  bestow  on  mortal  men.  Yet  there  have 
been,  in  every  age,  and  blessed  be  his  name,  there 
Btill  are  those  whom  he  has  condescended  to  make 
his  instruments  in  conveying  nobler  and  more  last- 
ing blessings  than  these  to  their  fellow-creatures. 
Death  has  long  since  veiled  the  eyes  and  stopped  the 
ears  of  those  who  were  the  subjects  of  miraculous 
healing,  and  recovered  its  empire  over  those  who 
were  once  recalled  from  the  grave.  But  the  souls 
who  are  prevailed  upon  to  receive  the  Gospel,  live 
for  ever.  God  has  owned  the  labors  of  his  faithful 
ministers  in  every  age  to  produce  these  blessed  effects ; 
and  somo  of  them  "being  dead,  yet  speak,"  Heb. 
11  :  4,  with  power  and  success  in  this  important 
cause.  Wonder  not,  then,  if,  living  and  dying,  I  be 
ambitious  of  this  honor ;  and  if  my  mouth  be  freely 
opened,  where  I  can  truly  say,  "my  heart  is  enlarg- 
ed." 2  Cor.  6:11. 

7.  In  forming  my  general  plan,  I  have  been  so- 
licitous that  this  little  treatise  might,  if  possible,  be 
useful  to  all  its  readers,  and  contain  something  suit- 
able to  each.  I  will  therefore  take  the  man  and  the 
Christian  in  a  great  variety  of  circumstances.  1 

itise  and  Prog,  o 


18  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

will  first  suppose  myself  addressing  one  of  the  vast 
number  of  thoughtless  creatures  who  have  hitherto 
been  utterly  unconcerned  about  religion,  and  will  try 
what  can  be  done,  by  all  plainness  and  earnestness 
of  address,  to  awaken  him  from  this  fatal  lethargy,  to 
a  care,  (chap.  2,)  an  affectionate  and  an  immediate 
care  about  it,  (chap.  3.)  I  will  labor  to  fix  a  deep 
and  awful  conviction  of  guilt  upon  his  conscience, 
(chap.  4,)  and  to  strip  him  of  his  vain  excuses  and 
his  flattering  hopes,  (chap.  5.)  I  will  read  to  him, 

0  that  I  could  fix  on  his  heart  that  sentence,  that 
dreadful  sentence,  which   a  righteous  and  an  Al- 
mighty God  hath  denounced  against  him  as  a  sinner, 
(chap.  6,)  and  endeavor  to  show  him  in  how  helpless 
a  state  he  lies  under  this  condemnation,  as  to  any 
capacity  he  has  of  delivering  himself,  (chap.  7.)    But 

1  do  not  mean  to  leave  any  in  so  terrible  a  situation : 
I  will  joyfully  proclaim  the  glad  tidings  of  pardon  and 
salvation  by  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  which  is  all  the 
support  and  confidence  of  my  own  soul,  (chap.  8.) 
And  then  I  will  give  some  general  view  of  the  way 
by  which  this  salvation  is  to  be  obtained,  (chap.  9;) 
urging  the  sinner  to  accept  of  it  as  affectionately  as  I 
can,  (chap.  10;)  though  nothing  can  be  sufficiently- 
pathetic,  where,  as  in  this  matter,  the  life  of  an  im- 
mortal soul  is  in  question. 

8.  Too  probable  it  is  that  some  will,  after  all  this, 
remain  insensible ;  and  therefore,  that  their  sad  case 


PLAN    OF   THE   WORK.  19 

may  not  encumber  the  following  articles,  I  shall  here 
take  a  solemn  leave  of  them,  (chap.  11 ;)  and  then 
shall  turn  and  address  myself,  as  compassionately  as 
I  can,  to  a  most  contrary  character — I  mean,  to  a 
soul  overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of  the  greatness  oi 
its  sins,  and  trembling  under  the  burden,  as  if  there 
were  no  more  hope  for  him  in  God,  (chap.  12.)  And 
that  nothing  may  be  omitted  which  may  give  solid 
peace  to  the  troubled  spirit,  I  shall  endeavor  to  guide 
its  inquiries  as  to  the  evidences  of  sincere  repentance 
and  faith,  (chap.  13 ;)  which  will  be  farther  illustra- 
ted by  a  more  particular  view  of  the  several  branches 
of  the  Christian  temper,  such  as  may  serve  at  once 
to  assist  the  reader  in  judging  what  he  is,  and  to 
show  him  what  he  should  labor  to  be,  (chap.  14.) 
This  will  naturally  lead  to  a  view  of  the  need  we 
have  of  the  influences  of  the  blessed  Spirit  to  assist 
us  in  the  important  and  difficult  work  of  the  true 
Christian,  and  of  the  encouragement  we  have  to  hope 
for  such  divine  assistance,  (chap.  15.)  In  an  humble 
dependence  on  which,  I  shall  then  enter  on  the  con- 
sideration of  several  cases  which  often  occur  in  the 
Christian  life,  in  which  particular  addresses  to  the 
conscience  may  be  requisite  and  useful. 

9.  As  some  peculiar  difficulties  and  discourage- 
ments attend  the  first  entrance  on  a  religious  course, 
it  will  here  be  our  first  care  to  animate  the  young 
convert  against  them,  (chap.  16.)  And  that  it  may 


v^0  RISE   AND    PROGRESS. 

be  done  more  effectually,  I  shall  urge  a  solemn  dedi- 
cation of  himself  to  God,  (chap.  17,)  to  be  confirmed 
by  entering  into  a  communion  of  the  church,  and  an 
approach  to  the  sacred  table,  (chap.  18.)  That  these 
engagements  may  be  more  happily  fulfilled,  we  shall 
endeavor  to  draw  a  more  particular  plan  of  that  de- 
vout, regular,  and  accurate  course,  which  ought  daily 
to  be  attended  to,  (chap.  19.)  And  because  the  idea 
will  probably  rise  so  much  higher  than  what  is  the 
general  practice,  even  of  good  men,  we  shall  en- 
deavor to  persuade  the  reader  to  make  the  attempt, 
hard  as  it  may  seem,  (chap.  20 ;)  and  shall  caution 
him  against  various  temptations,  which  might  other- 
wise draw  him  aside  to  negligence  and  sin,  (chap. 
21.) 

10.  Happy  will  it  be  for  the  reader,  if  these  ex- 
hortations and  cautions  be  attended  to  with  becoming 
regard ;  but  as  it  is,  alas,  too  probable  that,  notwith- 
standing all,  the  infirmities  of  nature  will  sometimes 
prevail,  we  shall  consider  the  case  of  deadness  and 
languor  in  religion,  which  often  steals  upon  us  by 
insensible  degrees,  (chap.  22;)  from  which  there 
is  too  easy  a  passage  to  that  terrible  one  of  a  return 
into  known  and  deliberate  sin,  (chap.  23.)  And  as 
the  one  or  the  other  of  these  tends  in  a  proportionable 
degree  to  provoke  the  blessed  God  to  hide  his  face, 
and  his  injured  Spirit  to  withdraw,  that  melancholy 
condition  will  be  taken  into  particular  survey,  (chap. 


PLAN   OF   THE   WORK.     *  21 

24.)  I  shall  then  take  notice  also  of  the  case  of  great 
and  heavy  afflictions  in  life,  (chap.  25,)  a  discipline 
which  the  best  of  men  have  reason  to  expect,  espe- 
cially when  they  backslide  from  Grod  and  yield  to 
their  spiritual  enemies. 

1 1 .  Instances  of  this  kind  will,  I  fear,  be  too  fre- 
quent ;  yet,  I  trust,  there  will  be  many  others,  whose 
path,  like  the  dawning  light,  will  "shine  more  and 
more  unto  the  perfect  day."  Prov.  4:18.  And  there- 
fore we  shall  endeavor,  in  the  best  manner  we  can, 
to  assist  the  Christian  in  passing  a  true  judgment  on 
the  growth  of  grace  in  his  heart,  (chap.  26,)  as  we 
had  done  before  in  judging  of  its  sincerity.  And  as 
nothing  conduces  more  to  the  advancement  of  grace 
than  the  lively  exercise  of  love  to  God,  and  a  holy 
joy  in  him,  we  shall  here  remind  the  real  Christian 
of  those  mercies  which  tend  to  excite  that  love  and 
joy,  (chap.  27 ;)  and  in  the  view  of  them,  to  animate 
him  to  those  vigorous  efforts  of  usefulness  in  life 
which  so  well  become  his  character,  and  will  have  so 
happy  an  efficacy  in  brightening  his  crown,  (chap. 
28.)  Supposing  him  to  act  accordingly,  we  shall 
then  labor  to  illustrate  and  assist  the  delight  with 
which  he  may  look  forward  to  the  awful  solemnities 
of  death  and  judgment,  (chap.  29.)  And  shall  close 
the  scene  by  accompanying  him,  as  it  were,  to  the 
nearest  confines  of  that  dark  valley  through  which 
he  is  to  pass  to  glory ;  giving  him  such  directions  as 


22  *    RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

may  seem  most  subservient  to  his  honoring  God  and 
adorning  religion  by  his  dying  behavior,  (chap.  30.) 
Nor  am  I  without  a  pleasing  hope,  that  through  the 
divine  blessing  and  grace,  I  may  be,  hi  some  in- 
stances, so  successful  as  to  leave  those  triumphing  in 
the  views  of  judgment  and  eternity,  and  glorifying 
God  by  a  truly  Christian  life  and  death,  whom  I  found 
trembling  in  the  apprehensions  of  future  misery ;  or, 
perhaps,  in  a  much  more  dangerous  and  miserable 
condition  than  that — I  mean,  entirely  forgetting  the 
prospect,  and  sunk  in  the  most  stupid  insensibility  of 
those  things,  for  an  attendance  to  which  the  human 
mind  was  formed,  and  in  comparison  of  which,  all 
the  pursuits  of  this  transitory  life  are  emptier  than 
wind  and  lighter  than  a  feather. 

12.  Such  a  variety  of  heads  must,  to  be  sure,  be 
handled  but  briefly,  as  we  intend  to  bring  them  with- 
in the  bulk  of  a  moderate  volume.  I  shall  not,  there- 
fore, discuss  them  as  a  preacher  might  properly  do 
in  sermons,  in  which  the  truths  of  religion  are  pro- 
fessedly to  be  explained  and  taught,  defended  and 
improved,  in  a  wide  variety,  and  long  detail  of  prop- 
ositions, arguments,  objections,  replies,  and  inferen- 
ces, marshalled  and  numbered  under  their  distinct 
generals.  I  shall  here  speak  in  a  looser  and  freer  man- 
ner, as  a  friend  to  a  friend ;  just  as  I  would  do  if  I 
were  to  be  in  person  admitted  to  a  private  audience 
by  one  whom  I  tenderly  loved,  and  whose  circum- 


PRAYER  FOR    SUCCESS.  23 

stances  and  character  I  knew  to  be  like  that  which 
the  title  of  one  chapter  or  another  of  this  treatise 
describes.  And  when  I  have  discoursed  with  him  a 
little  while,  which  will  seldom  be  so  long  as  half  an 
hour,  shall,  as  it  were,  step  aside,  and  leave  him  to 
meditate  on  what  he  has  heard,  or  endeavor  to  assist 
him  in  such  fervent  addresses  to  God  as  it  may  be 
proper  to  mingle  with  those  meditations.  In  the  mean- 
time, I  will  here  take  the  liberty  to  pray  over  my 
reader  and  my  work,  and  to  commend  it  solemnly 
to  the  divine  blessing,  in  token  of  my  deep  convic- 
tion of  an  entire  dependence  upon  it.  And  I  am  well 
persuaded  that  sentiments  like  these  are  common,  in 
the  general,  to  every  faithful  minister,  to  every  real 
Christian. 

A  PRAYER  FOR  THE  SUCCESS  OF  THIS  WORK,   IN  PRO- 
MOTING THE  RISE  AND  PROGRESS  OF  RELIGION. 

"  0  thou  great  eternal  Original,  and  Author  of  all 
created  being  and  happiness !  I  adore  thee,  who  hast 
made  man  a  creature  capable  of  religion,  and  hast 
bestowed  this  dignity  and  felicity  upon  our  nature, 
that  it  may  be  taught  to  say,  Where  is  God  our  ma- 
ker ?  Job  35  :  10.  I  lament  that  degeneracy  spread 
over  the  whole  human  race,  which  has  '  turned  our 
glory  into  shame,'  Hos.  4  :  7,  and  has  rendered  the 
forgetfulness  of  God,  unnatural  as  it  is,  so  common 
and  so  universal  a  disease.  Holy  Father,  we  know 
it  is  thy  presence,  and  thy  teaching  alone,  that  can 


24  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

reclaim  thy  wandering  children,  can  impress  a  sense 
of  divine  things  on  the  heart,  and  render  that  sense 
lasting  and  effectual.  From  thee  proceed  all  good 
purposes  and  desires;  and  this  desire,  above  all,  of 
diffusing  wisdom,  piety,  and  happiness  in  this  world, 
which,  though  sunk  in  such  deep  apostasy,  thine  in- 
finite mercy  has  not  utterly  forsaken. 

"  Thou  'knowest,  0  Lord,  the  hearts  of  the  chil- 
dren of  men,'  2  Chron.  6  :  30  ;  and  an  upright  soul, 
in  the  midst  of  all  the  censures  and  suspicions  it  may 
meet  with,  rejoices  in  thine  intimate  knowledge  of 
its  most  secret  sentiments  and  principles  of  action. 
Thou  knowest  the  sincerity  and  fervency  with  which 
thine  unworthy  servant  desires  to  spread  the  know- 
ledge of  thy  name,  and  the  savor  of  thy  Gospel, 
among  all  to  whom  this  work  may  reach.  Thou 
knowest  that,  hadst  thou  given  him  an  abundance 
of  this  world,  it  would  have  been,  in  his  esteem,  the 
noblest  pleasure  that  abundance  could  have  afforded, 
to  have  been  thine  almoner  in  distributing  thy  boun- 
ties to  the  indigent  and  necessitous,  and  so  causing 
the  sorrowful  heart  to  rejoice  in  thy  goodness,  dis- 
pensed through  his  hands.  Thou  knowest,  that,  hadst 
thou  given  him,  either  by  ordinary  or  extraordinary 
methods,  the  gift  of  healing,  it  would  have  been  his 
daily  delight  to  relieve  the  pains,  the  maladies,  and 
the  infirmities  of  men's  bodies ;  to  have  seen  the 
languishing  countenance  brightened  by  returning 


PRAYER    FOR    SUCCESS.  25 

health  and  cheerfulness;  and  much  more  to  have 
beheld  the  roving,  distracted  mind  reduced  to  calm- 
ness and  serenity  in  the  exercise  of  its  rational  fac- 
ulties. Yet  happier,  far  happier  will  he  think  him- 
self, in  those  humble  circumstances  in  which  thy 
providence  hath  placed  him,  if  thou  vouchsafe  to 
honor  these  his  feeble  endeavors  as  the  means  of  re- 
lieving and  enriching  men's  minds ;  of  recovering 
them  from  the  madness  of  a  sinful  state,  and  bring- 
ing back  thy  reasonable  creatures  to  the  knowledge, 
the  service,  and  the  enjoyment  of  their  God  ;  or  of 
improving  those  who  are  already  reduced. 

"0  may  it  have  that  blessed  influence  on  the  per- 
son, whosoever  he  be,  that  is  now  reading  these  lines, 
and  all  who  may  read  or  hear  them.  Let  not  my 
Lord  be  angry  if  I  presume  to  ask,  that,  howevei 
weak  and  contemptible  this  work  may  seem  in  the 
eyes  of  the  children  of  this  world,  and  however  im- 
perfect it  really  be,  as  well  as  the  author  of  it  un- 
worthy, it  may  nevertheless  live  before  thee ;  and, 
through  a  divine  power,  be  mighty  to  produce  the 
rise  and  progress  of  religion  in  the  minds  of  multi- 
tudes in  distant  places,  and  in  generations  yet  to 
come.  Impute  it  not,  0  God,  as  a  culpable  ambition, 
if  I  desire  that,  whatever  becomes  of  my  name,  about 
which  I  would  not  lose  one  thought  before  thee,  this 
work,  to  which  I  am  now  applying  myself  in  thy 
strength;  may  be  completed  and  propagated  far 


26  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

abroad ;  that  it  may  reach,  to  those  that  are  yet  un- 
born, and  teach  them  thy  name  and  thy  praise,  when 
the  author  has  long  dwelt  in  the  dust ;  that  so,  when 
he  shall  appear  before  thee  in  the  great  day  of  final 
account,  his  joy  may  be  increased,  and  his  crown 
brightened,  by  numbers  before  unknown  to  each 
other,  and  to  him.  But  if  this  petition  bo  too  great 
to  be  granted  to  one  who  pretends  no  claim  but  thy 
sovereign  grace  to  hope  for  being  favored  with  the 
least,  give  him  to  be,  in  thine  Almighty  hand,  the 
blessed  instrument  of  converting  and  saving  one 
soul ;  and  if  it  be  but  one,  and  that  the  weakest  and 
meanest  of  those  who  are  capable  of  receiving  this 
address,  it  shall  be  most  thankfully  accepted  as  a 
rich  recompense  for  all  the  thought  and  labor  it  may 
cost;  and  though  it  should  be  amidst  a  thousand 
disappointments  with  respect  to  others,  yet  it  shall 
be  the  subject  of  immortal  songs  of  praise  to  thee,  0 
blessed  God,  for  and  by  every  soul  whom,  through 
the  blood  of  Jesus  and  the  grace  of  thy  Spirit,  thou 
hast  saved ;  and  everlasting  honors  shall  be  ascribed 
to  the  Father,  and  to  the  Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Spirit, 
by  the  innumerable  company  of  angels,  and  by  the 
general  assembly  and  church  of  the  first-born  in 
heaven.  Amen." 


CARELESS   SINNER    AWAKENED.  27 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  CARELESS  SINNER  AWAKENED. 

1,2.  It  is  too  supposable  a  case  that  this  treatise  may  come 
into  such  hands. — 3,  4.  Since  many,  not  grossly  vicious,  fall 
under  that  character. — 5,  6.  A  more  particular  illustration  of 
this  case,  with  an  appeal  to  the  reader,  whether  it  be  not  his 
own. — 7  to  9.  Expostulation  with  such. — 10  to  12.  More  par- 
ticularly, from  acknowledged  principles  relating  to  the  nature 
of  God,  his  universal  presence,  agency,  and  perfection. — 13. 
From  a  view  of  personal  obligations  to  him. — 14.  From  the 
danger  of  this  neglect,  when  considered  in  its  aspect  on  a  fu- 
ture state. — 15.  An  appeal  to  the  conscience  as  already  con- 
vinced.— 16.  Transition  to  the  subject  of  the  next  chapter. — 
The  meditation  of  a  sinner,  who,  having  been  long  thoughtless, 
begins  to  be  awakened. 

1 .  SHAMEFULLY  and  fatally  as  religion  is  neglected 
in  the  world,  yet,  blessed  be  God,  it  has  some  sincere 
disciples,  children  of  wisdom,  by  whom,  even  in  this 
foolish  and  degenerate  age,  it  "is  justified,"  Matt. 
11  :  19;  who  having,  by  divine  grace,  been  brought 
to  the  knowledge  of  God  in  Christ,  have  faithfully 
devoted  their  hearts  to  him,  and  by  a  natural  conse- 
quence, are  devoting  their  lives  to  his  service.  Could 
I  be  sure  this  treatise  would  fall  into  no  hands  but 
theirs,  my  work  would  be  shorter,  easier,  and  more 
pleasant. 


28  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

2.  But  among  the  thousands  that  neglect  religion, 
it  is  more  than  probable  that  some  of  my  readers 
may  be  included ;  and  I  am  so  deeply  affected  with 
their  unhappy  case,  that  the  temper  of  my  heart,  as 
well  as  the  proper  method  of  my  subject,  leads  me, 
in  the  first  place,  to  address  myself  to  such  ;  to  apply 
to  every  one  of  them,  and  therefore  to  you,  0  reader, 
whoever  you  are,  who  may  come  under  the  denomi- 
nation of  a  careless  sinner. 

3.  Be  not,  I  beseech  you,  angry  at  the  name.    The 
physicians  of  souls  must  speak  plainly,  or  they  may 
murder  those  whom   they  should   cure.     I  would 
make   no  harsh   and   unreasonable  supposition.     I 
would  charge  you  with  nothing  more  than  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  convince  you  that  you  are  the 
person  to  whom  I  speak.     I  will  not,  therefore,  im- 
agine you  to  be  a  profane  and  abandoned  profligate. 
I  will  not  suppose  that  you  allow  yourself  to  blas- 
pheme God,  to   dishonor  his   name  by  customary 
swearing,  or  grossly  to  violate  his  Sabbath,  or  com- 
monly to  neglect  the  solemnities  of  his  public  wor- 
ship.   I  will  not  imagine  that  you  have  injured  your 
neighbors  in  their  lives,  their  chastity,  or  their  pos- 
sessions, either  by  violence  or  by  fraud  ;  or  that  yon 
have   scandalously  debased  the  rational   nature  of 
man,  by  that  vile  intemperance  which  transforms  us 
into  the  worst  kind  of  brutes,  or  something  beneath 
them. 


MANY   NOT   GROSSLY   VICIOUS.  29 

4.  In  opposition  to  all  this,  I  will  suppose  that 
you  believe  the  existence   and  providence  of  God, 
and  the  truth  of  Christianity  as  a  revelation  from 
him  ;  of  which,  if  you  have  any  doubt,  I  must  desire 
that  you  would  immediately  seek  your  satisfaction 
elsewhere.^     I  say,  immediately,  because  not  to  be- 
lieve it,  is  in  effect  to  disbelieve  it,  and  will  make 
your  ruin  equally  certain,  though  perhaps  it  may 
leave  it  less  aggravated  than  if  contempt  and  oppo- 
sition had  been  added  to  suspicion  and  neglect.     But 
supposing  you  to  be  a  nominal  Christian,  and  not  a 
Deist  or  a  sceptic,  I  will  also  suppose  your  conduct 
among  men  to  be  not  only  blameless,  but  amiable  ; 
and  that  they  who  know  you  most  intimately,  must 
acknowledge  that  you  are  just  and  sober,  humane 
and  courteous,  compassionate  and  liberal ;  yet,  with 
all  this,  you  may  "  lack  that  one  thing,"  Mark  10:21, 
on  which  your  eternal  happiness  depends. 

5.  I  beseech  you,  reader,  whoever  you  are,  that 
you  would  now  look  seriously  into  your  own  heart, 
and  ask  it  this  one  plain  question  :  Am  I  truly  relig- 
ious ?     Is  the  love  of  God  the  governing  principle  of 
my  life  ?    Do  I  walk  under  the  sense  of  his  presence  ? 

*  In  such  a  case,  I  beg  leave  to  refer  the  reader  to  my  three 
sermons  on  the  Evidence  of  Christianity,  and  the  last  of  the 
ten  on  the  Power  and  Grace  of  Christ ;  in  which  he  may  see 
the  hitherto  unshaken  foundations  of  my  own  faith,  in  a  short, 
and  I  hope,  a  clear  view. 


30  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 

Do  I"  con  verse  with  him  from  day  to  day,  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  prayer  and  praise  ?  And  am  I,  on  the  whole, 
making  his  service  my  business  and  my  delight,  re- 
garding him  as  my  Master  and  my  Father  ? 

6.  It  is  my  present  business  only  to  address  my- 
self to  the  person  whose  conscience  answers  in  the 
negative.  And  I  would  appeal,  with  equal  plainness 
and  equal  freedom,  to  high  and  low,  to  rich  and  poor ; 
to  you  who,  as  the  Scripture  with  a  dreadful  pro- 
priety expresses  it,  "live  without  God  in  the  world," 
Eph.  2:12,  and  while  in  words  and  forms  you  "  own 
God,  deny  him  in  your  actions,"  Tit.  1:16,  and  be- 
have yourselves  in  the  main,  a  few  external  ceremo- 
nies only  excepted,  just  as  you  would  do  if  you  be- 
lieved and  were  sure  there  is  no  God.  Unhappy 
creature,  whoever  you  are,  your  own  heart  condemns 
you  immediately ;  and  how  much  more  that  "  God 
who  is  greater  than  your  heart,  and  knoweth  al] 
things."  1  John,  3  :20.  He  is  in  "secret,"  Matt. 
6:6,  as  well  as  in  public ;  and  words  cannot  express 
the  delight  with  which  his  children  converse  with 
him  alone  ;  but  in  secret  you  acknowledge  him  not ; 
you  neither  pray  to  him  nor  praise  him  in  your  re- 
tirements. Accounts,  correspondences,  studies,  may 
often  bring  you  into  your  closet ;  but  if  nothing  but 
devotion  were  to  be  transacted  there,  it  would  be  to 
you  quite  an  unfrequented  place.  And  thus  you  go 
on  from  day  to  day  in  a  continual  forgetfulness  of 


APPEAL   TO   THE  READER  31 

God,  and  are  as  thoughtless  about  religion  as  if  you 
had  long  since  demonstrated  to  yourself  that  it  was 
a  mere  dream.  If,  indeed,  you  are  sick,  you  will 
perhaps  cry  to  God  for  health  ;  in  any  extreme  dan- 
ger, you  will  lift  up  your  eyes  and  voice  for  deliver- 
ance ;  but  as  for  the  pardon  of  sin,  and  the  other 
blessings  of  the  Gospel,  you  are  not  at  all  inwardly 
solicitous  about  them  ;  though  you  profess  to  believe 
that  the  Gospel  is  divine,  and  the  blessings  of  it  eter- 
nal. All  your  thoughts,  and  all  your  hours  are  di- 
vided between  the  business  and  the  Amusements  of 
life ;  and  if  now  and  then  an  awful  providence,  or  a 
serious  sermon  or  book  awakens  you,  it  is  but  a  few 
days,  or  it  may  be  a  few  hours,  and  you  are  the 
same  careless  creature  you  ever  were  before.  On 
the  whole,  you  act  as  if  you  were  resolved  to  put  it 
to  the  venture,  and  at  your  own  expense  to  make 
the  experiment,  whether  the  consequences  of  neglect- 
ing religion  be  indeed  as  terrible  as  its  ministers  and 
friends  have  represented.  Their  remonstrances  do 
indeed  sometimes  force  themselves  upon  you,  as,  con- 
sidering the  age  and  country  in  which  you  live,  it  is 
hardly  possible  entirely  to  avoid  them  ;  but  you  have, 
it  may  be,  found  out  the  art  of  Isaiah's  people, 
"  hearing  to  hear,  and  not  understand ;  and  seeing 
to  see,  and  not  perceive  :  your  heart  is  waxed  gross, 
your  eyes  are  closed,  and  your  ears  heavy."  Isaiah 
6:9,  10,  Under  the  very  ordinances  of  worship, 


32  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

your  thoughts  "  are  at  the  ends  of  the  earth."  Prov 
17  :  24.  Every  amusement  of  the  imagination  is 
welcome,  if  it  may  but  lead  away  your  mind  from 
Bo  insipid  and  so  disagreeable  a  subject  as  religion. 
And  probably  the  very  last  time  you  were  in  a  wor- 
shipping assembly,  you  managed  just  as  you  would 
have  done  if  you  had  thought  God  knew  nothing  of 
your  behavior,  or  as  if  you  did  not  think  it  worth 
one  single  care  whether  he  were  pleased  or  displeased 
with  it. 

7.  Alas,  is  it  then  come  to  this,  with  all  your  be- 
lief of  God,  and  providence,  and  Scripture,  that  relig- 
ion is  not  worth  a  thought  ?     That  it  is  not  worth 
one  hour's  serious  consideration  and  reflection,  "  what 
God  and  Christ  are,  and  what  you  yourselves  are, 
and  what  you  must  hereafter  be  ?"     Where,  then, 
are  your  rational  faculties  ?    How  are  they  employed  ? 
or  rather,  how  are  they  stupefied  and  benumbed. 

8.  The  certainty  and  importance  of  the  things  of 
which  I  speak  are  so  evident,  from  the  principles 
which  you  yourselves  grant,  that  one  might  almost 
Bet  a  child  or  an  idiot  to  reason  upon  them.     And 
yet  they  are  neglected  by  those  who  are  grown  up 
to  understanding,  and  perhaps  some  of  them  to  such 
refinement  of  understanding  that  they  would  think 
themselves  greatly  injured  if  they  were  not  to  be 
reckoned  among  the  politer  and  more  learned  part 
of  mankind. 


APPEAL  TO    THE    READER.  33 

9.  But  it  is  not  your  neglect,  sirs,  that  can  destroy 
the  being  or  importance  of  such  things  as  these.     It 
may  indeed  destroy  you,  but  it  cannot  in  the  least 
affect  them.    Permit  me,  therefore,  having  been  my- 
self awakened,  to  come  to  each  of  you,  and  say,  as 
the  mariners  did  to  Jonah  while  asleep  in  the  midst 
of  a  much  less  dangerous  storm,  "  What  meanest 
thou,  0  sleeper?     Arise,  and  call  upon  thy  God.'* 
Jonah  1:6.     Do  you  doubt  as  to  the  reasonableness 
or  necessity  of  doing  it ?     "I  will  demand,  and  an- 
swer me,"  Job  38  :  3  ;  answer  me  to  your  own  con- 
science, as  one  that  must  ere  long  render  another 
kind  of  account. 

10.  You  own  that  there  is  a  God,  and  well  you 
may,  for  you  cannot  open  your  eyes  but  you  must 
see  the  evident  proofs  of  his  being,  his  presence,  and 
his  agency.     You  behold  him  around  you  in  every 
object.     You  feel  him  within  you,  if  I  may  so  speak, 
in  every  vein  and  in  every  nerve.     You  see  and  you 
feel  not  only  that  he  hath  formed  you  with  an  ex- 
quisite wisdom  which  no  mortal  man  could  ever  fully 
explain  or  comprehend,  but  that  he  is  continually 
near  you,  wherever  you  are,  and  however  you  are 
employed,  by  day  or  by  night ;  "  in  him  you  live, 
and  move,  and  have  your  being."     Acts  17  :  28. 
Common-sense  will  tell  you,  that  it  is  not  your  own 
wisdom,  and  power,  and  attention,  that  causes  your 
heart  to  beat,  and  your  blood  to  circulate  ;  that  draws 

Rise  and  Frog.  g 


34  RISE    AND    PROGRESS, 

in  and  sends  out  that  breath  of  life,  that  precarious 
breath  of  a  most  uncertain  life,  "  that  is  in  your  nos- 
trils." Isaiah  2  :  22.  These  things  are  done  when 
you  sleep,  as  well  as  in  those  waking  moments  when 
you  think  not  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  or  of 
the  necessity  of  breathing,  or  so  much  as  recollect 
that  you  have  a  heart  or  lungs.  Now,  what  is  this 
but  the  hand  of  God,  perpetually  supporting  and  act- 
uating those  curious  machines  that  he  has  made  ? 

1 1 .  Nor  is  this  his  care  limited  to  you  ;  but  if  you 
look  all  around  you,  far  as  your  view  can  reach,  you 
see  it  extending  itself  on  every  side ;  and  0,  how 
much  farther  than  you  can  trace  it.  Reflect  on  the 
light  and  heat  which  the  sun  everywhere  dispenses  ; 
on  the  air  which  surrounds  all  our  globe ;  on  the 
right  temperature  on  which  the  life  of  the  whole  hu- 
man race  depends,  and  that  of  all  the  inferior  crea- 
tures which  dwell  on  the  earth.  Think  of  the  suit- 
able and  plentiful  provisions  made  for  man  and 
beast ;  the  grass,  the  grain,  the  variety  of  fruits,  and 
herbs,  and  flowers;  every  thing  that  nourishes  us, 
every  thing  that  delights  us,  and  say  whether  it  does 
not  speak  plainly  and  loudly  that  our  Almighty 
Maker  is  near,  and  that  he  is  careful  of  us,  and  kind 
to  us.  And  while  all  these  things  proclaim  his  good- 
ness, do  not  they  also  proclaim  his  power  ?  For  what 
power  has  any  thing  comparable  to  that  which  fur- 
nishes out  those  gifts  of  royal  bounty ;  and  which, 


PERSONAL  OBLIGATIONS  TO  GOD.  35 

unwearied  and  unchanged,  produces  continually,  from 
day  to  day,  and  from  age  to  age,  such  astonishing 
and  magnificent  effects  over  the  face  of  the  whole 
earth,  and  through  all  the  regions  of  heaven  ? 

12.  It  is  then  evident  that  God  is  present,  present 
with  you  at  this  moment ;  even  God  your  creatoi 
and  preserver,  God  the  creator  and  preserver  of  the 
whole  visible  and  invisible  world.     And  is  he  not 
present  as  a  most  observant  and  attentive  being? 
"He  that  formed  the  eye,  shall  not  he  see  ?    He  that 
planted  the  ear,  shall  not  he  hear  ?    He  that  teaches 
man  knowledge,"  that  gives  him  his  rational  facul- 
ties, and  pours  in  upon  his  opening  mind  all  the  light 
it  receives  by  them,  "shall  not  he  know?"     Psalm 
94  :  9,  10.     He  who  sees  all  the  necessities  of  his 
creatures  so  seasonably  to  provide  for  them,  shall  he 
not  see  their  actions  too ;  and  seeing,  shall  he  not 
judge  them  ?    Has  he  given  us  a  sense  and  discrimi- 
nation of  what  is  good  and  evil,  of  what  is  true  and 
false,  of  what  is  fair  and  deformed  in  temper  and 
conduct ;  and  has  he  himself  no  discernment  of  these 
things  ?    Trifle  not  with  your  conscience,  which  tells 
you  at  once  that  he  judges  of  it,  and  approves  or  con- 
demns as  it  is  decent  or  indecent,  reasonable  or  un- 
reasonable ;  and  that  the  judgment  which  he  passes 
is  of  infinite  importance  to  all  his  creatures. 

13.  And  now  to  apply  all  this  to  your  own  case, 
let  me  seriously  ask  you,  is  it  a  decent  and  reason- 


36  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

able  thing,  that  this  great  and  glorious  Benefactor 
should  be  neglected  by  his  rational  creatures — by 
those  that  are  capable  of  attaining  to  some  know- 
ledge of  him,  and  presenting  to  him  some  homage  ? 
Is  it  decent  and  reasonable,  that  he  should  be  for- 
gotten and  neglected  by  you  ?  Are  you  alone,  of  all 
the  works  of  his  hands,  forgotten  or  neglected  by 
him  ?  0  sinner,  thoughtless  as  you  are,  you  cannot 
dare  to  say  that,  or  even  to  think  it.  You  need  not 
go  back  to  the  helpless  days  of  your  infancy  and 
childhood  to  convince  you  of  the  contrary.  You 
need  not,  in  order  to  this,  recollect  the  remarkable 
deliverances  which  perhaps  were  wrought  out  for 
you  many  years  ago.  The  repose  of  the  last  night, 
the  refreshment  and  comfort  you  have  received  this 
day,  yea,  the  mercies  you  are  receiving  this  very 
moment  bear  witness  to  him ;  and  yet  you  regard 
him  not.  Ungrateful  creature  that  you  are  !  Could 
you  have  treated  any  human  benefactor  thus  ? 
Could  you  have  borne  to  neglect  a  kind  parent,  or 
any  generous  friend,  that  had  but  for  a  few  months 
acted  the  part  of  a  parent  to  ,you  ;  to  have  taken  no 
notice  of  him  while  in  his  presence ;  to  have  return- 
ed him  no  thanks ;  to  have  had  no  contrivances  to 
make  some  little  acknowledgment  for  all  his  good- 
ness ?  Human  nature,  bad  as  it  is,  is  not  fallen  so 
low.  Nay,  the  brutal  nature  is  not  so  low  as  this. 
Surely  every  domestic  animal  around  you  must  shame 


VIEW   OF    A   FUTURE    STATE.  37 

Buch  ingratitude.  If  you  do  but  for  a  few  days  take 
a  little  kind  notice  of  a  dog,  and  feed  him  with  the 
refuse  of  your  table,  he  will  wait  upon  you,  and  love 
to  be  near  you ;  he  will  be  eager  to  follow  you  from 
place  to  place,  and  when,  after  a  little  absence,  you 
return  home,  will  try,  by  a  thousand  fond,  trans- 
ported motions,  to  tell  you  how  much  he  rejoices  to 
see  you  again.  Nay,  brutes  far  less  sagacious  and 
apprehensive  have  some  sense  of  our  kindness,  and 
express  it  after  their  way ;  as  the  blessed  God  con- 
descends to  observe,  in  this  very  view  in  which  I 
mention  it,  "  The  "  dull  "  ox  knows  his  owner,  and 
the"  stupid  "ass  his  master's  crib."  Isa.  1  :  3. 
What  lamentable  degeneracy,  therefore,  is  it,  that 
you  do  not  know — that  you,  who  have  been  num- 
bered among  God's  professed  people,  do  not  and  will 
not  consider  your  numberless  obligations  to  him. 

14.  Surely,  if  you  have  any  ingenuousness  of  tem- 
per, you  must  be  ashamed  and  grieved  in  the  re- 
view ;  but  if  you  have  not,  give  me  leave  farther  to 
expostulate  with  you  on  this  head,  by  setting  it  in 
something  of  a  different  light.  Can  you  think  your- 
self safe,  while  you  are  acting  a  part  like  this  ?  Do 
you  not  in  your  conscience  believe  there  will  be  a 
future  judgment  ?  Do  you  not  believe  there  is  an 
invisible  and  eternal  world  ?  As  professed  Chris- 
tians, we  all  believe  it ;  for  it  is  no  controverted  point, 
but  displayed  in  Scripture  with  so  clear  an  evidence, 


88  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

that,  subtle  and  ingenious  as  men  are  in  error,  they 
have  not  yet  found  out  a  way  to  evade  it.  And  be- 
lieving this,  do  you  not  see,  that  while  you  are  thus 
wandering  from  God,  "  destruction  and  misery  are  in 
your  way."  Rom.  3  :  16.  Will  this  indolence  and 
negligence  of  temper  be  any  security  to  you  ?  Will 
it  guard  you  from  death?  Will  it  excuse  you  from 
judgment  ?  You  might  much  more  reasonably  ex- 
pect that  shutting  your  eyes  would  be  a  defence 
against  the  rage  of  a  devouring  lion  ;  or  that  looking 
another  way  should  secure  your  body  from  being 
pierced  by  a  bullet  or  a  sword.  When  God  speaks 
of  the  extravagant  folly  of  some  thoughtless  crea- 
tures who  would  hearken  to  no  admonition  now,  he 
adds,  in  a  very  awful  manner,  "  In  the  latter  day 
they  shall  consider  it  perfectly."  Jer  23  :  20.  And 
is  not  this  applicable  to  you  ?  Must  you  not  sooner 
or  later  be  brought  to  think  of  these  things,  whether 
you  will  or  not  ?  And  in  the  meantime  do  you  not 
certainly  know,  that  timely  and  serious  reflection  upon 
them  is,  through  divine  grace,  the  only  way  to  pre- 
vent your  ruin  ? 

15.  Yes,  sinner,  I  need  not  multiply  words  on  a 
subject  like  this.  Your  conscience  is  already  in- 
wardly convinced,  though  your  pride  may  be  unwill- 
ing to  own  it.  And  to  prove  it,  let  me  ask  you  one 
question  more  :  Would  you,  upon  any  terms  and  con- 
siderations whatever,  come  to  a  resolution  absolutely 


ME1JITAT10N   OF    A    SINNER.  39 

to  dismiss  all  farther  thought  of  religion,  and  all 
care  about  it,  from  this  day  and  hour,  an4  to  abide 
the  consequences  of  that  neglect  ?  I  believe^  hardly 
any  man  living  would  be  bold  enough  to  determine 
upon  this.  I  believe  most  of  my  readers  would  be 
ready  to  tremble  at  the  thought  of  it. 

16.  But  if  it  be  necessary  to  take  these  things  into 
consideration  at  all,  it  is  necessary  to  do  it  quickly ; 
for  life  itself  is  not  so  very  long,  nor  so  certain,  that 
a  wise  man  should  risk  much  upon  its  continuance. 

And  I  hope  to  convince  you  when  I  have  another 
hearing,  that  it  is  necessary  to  do  it  immediately, 
and  that  next  to  the  madness  of  resolving  you  will 
not  think  of  religion  at  all,  is  that  of  saying  you 
will  think  of  it  hereafter.  In  the  meantime,  pause 
on  the  hints  which  have  been  already  given,  and 
they  will  prepare  you  to  receive  what  is  to  be  added 
on  that  head. 

THE   MEDITATION    OF    A    SINNER    WHO    WAS    ONCE 
THOUGHTLESS,  BUT  BEGINS  TO  BE  AWAKENED. 

"  Awake,  0  my  forgetful  soul,  awake  from  these 
wandering  dreams.  Turn  thee  from  this  chase  of 
vanity,  and  for  a  little  while  be  persuaded,  by  all 
these  considerations,  to  look  forward,  and  to  look 
upward,  at  least  for  a  few  moments.  Sufficient  are 
the  hours  and  days  given  to  the  labors  and  amuse- 
ments of  life.  Grudge  not  a  short  allotment  of  min- 


40  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

utes,  to  view  thyself  and  thine  own  more  immediate 
concerns  ;  to  reflect  who  and  what  thou  art,  how  it 
comes  to  pass  that  thou  art  here,  and  what  thou 
must  quickly  be. 

"  It  is  indeed  as  thou  hast  seen  it  now  represented. 
0  my  soul,  thou  art  the  creature  of  God,  formed 
and  furnished  by  him,  and  lodged  in  a  body  which 
he  provided,  and  which  he  supports  ;  a  body  in  which 
he  intends  thee  only  a  transitory  abode.  0  think 
how  soon  this  'tabernacle'  must  be  'dissolved,'  2 
Cor.  5:1,  and  thou  must  *  return  to  God.'  Eccles. 
12  :  7.  And  shall  He,  the  One,  Infinite,  Eternal, 
Ever-blessed,  and  Ever-glorious  Being,  shall  he  be 
least  of  all  regarded  by  thee  ?  "Wilt  thou  live  and 
die  with  this  character,  saying,  by  every  action  of 
every  day,  unto  God,  '  Depart  from  me,  for  I  desire 
not  the  knowledge  of  thy  ways  ?'  Job  21  :  14.  The 
morning,  the  day,  the  evening,  the  night,  every  pe- 
riod of  time  has  its  excuses  for  this  neglect.  But  0, 
my  soul,  what  will  these  excuses  appear  when  ex- 
amined by  his  penetrating  eye  ?  They  may  delude 
me,  but  they  cannot  impose  upon  him. 

"  0  thou  injured,  neglected,  provoked  Benefactor, 
when  I  think  but  for  a  moment  or  two  of  all  thy 
greatness  and  of  all  thy  goodness,  I  am  astonished 
at  this  insensibility  which  has  prevailed  in  my  heart, 
and  even  still  prevails ;  I  '  blush  and  am  confounded 
to  lift  up  my  face  before  thee.'  Ezra  9  :  6.  On  the 


MEDITATION    OF   A    SINNER.  41 

most  transient  review,  I  '  see  that  I  have  played  the 
foo],'  that '  I  have  erred  exceedingly.'  1  Sam.  26  :  21. 
And  yet  this  stupid  heart  of  mine  would  make  its 
having  neglected  thee  so  long  a  reason  for  going  on 
to  neglect  thee.  I  own  it  might  justly  be  expected, 
that,  with  regard  to  thee,  every  one  of  thy  rationa] 
creatures  should  be  all  duty  and  love ;  that  each 
heart  should  be  full  of  a  sense  of  thy  presence  ;  and 
that  a  care  to  please  thee  should  swallow  up  every 
other  care.  Yet  thou  '  hast  not  been  in  all  my 
thoughts,'  Psalms  10  :  4 ;  and  religion,  the  end  and 
glory  of  my  nature,  has  been  so  strangely  overlooked, 
that  I  have  hardly  ever  seriously  asked  my  own  heart 
what  it  is.  I  know,  if  matters  rest  here,  I  perish ; 
yet  I  feel  in  my  perverse  nature  a  secret  indisposition 
to  pursue  these  thoughts  ;  a  proneness,  if  not  entirely 
to  dismiss  them,  yet  to  lay  them  aside  for  the  pres- 
ent. My  mind  is  perplexed  and  divided ;  but  I  am 
sure,  thou,  who  madest  me,  knowest  what  is  best  for 
me.  I  therefore  beseech  thee  that  thou  wilt,  '  for 
thy  name's  sake,  lead  me  and  guide  me.'  Psalms 
31:3.  Let  me  not  delay  till  it  is  for  ever  too  late. 
'  Pluck  me  as  a  brand  out  of  the  burning.'  Amos 
4:11.  0  break  this  fatal  enchantment  that  holds 
down  my  affection  to  objects  which  my  judgment 
comparatively  despises ;  and  let  me,  at  length,  come 
into  so  happy  a  state  of  mind  that  I  may  not  be 
afraid  to  think  of  thee  and  of  myself,  and  may  not 


42  RISE   AND  PROGRESS. 

be  tempted  to  wish  that  thou  hadst  not  made  me, 
or  that  thou  couldst  for  ever  forget  me  ;  that  it  may 
not  be  my  best  hope,  to  perish  like  the  brutes. 

"  If  what  I  shall  farther  read  here  be  agreeable 
to  truth  and  reason,  if  it  be  calculated  to  promote  my 
happiness,  and  is  to  be  regarded  as  an  intimation  of 
thy  will  and  pleasure  to  me,  0  God,  let  me  hear  and 
obey.  Let  the  words  of  thy  servant,  when  pleading 
thy  cause,  be  like  goads  to  pierce  into  my  mind  ; 
and  let  me  rather  feel,  and  smart,  than  die.  Let 
them  be  '  as  nails  fastened  in  a  sure  place,'  Eccl. 
12:11;  that  whatever  mysteries  as  yet  unknown,  or 
whatever  difficulties  there  be  in  religion,  if  it  be 
necessary,  I  may  not  finally  neglect  it ;  and  that,  if  it 
be  expedient  to  attend  immediately  to  it,  I  may  no 
longer  delay  that  attendance.  And  0,  let  thy  grace 
teach  me  the  lesson  I  am  so  slow  to  learn,  and  con- 
quer that  strong  opposition  which  I  feel  in  my  heart 
against  the  very  thought  of  it.  Hear  these  broken 
cries,  for  the  sake  of  thy  Son,  who  has  taught  and 
saved  many  &  creature  as  untractable  as  I,  and  can 
'out  of  stones  raise  up  children  unto  Abraham.' 
Matt.  3  :  9.  Amen." 


REGARD   TO   RELIGION    URGED.  43 


CHAPTER  III. 

t 

THE  AWAKENED  SINNER  URGED  TO  IMMEDIATE  CONSID- 
ERATION, AND  CAUTIONED  AGAINST  DELAY. 

1.  Sinners,  when  awakened,  inclined  to  dismiss  convictions 
for  the  present. — 2.  An  immediate  regard  to  religion  urged. — 
3.  From  the  excellence  and  pleasure  of  the  thing  itself. — 4. 
From  the  uncertainty  of  that  future  time  on  which  sinners  pre- 
sume, compared  with  the  sad  consequences  of  being  cut  off  in 
ein. — 5.  From  the  immutability  of  God's  present  demands. — 6. 
From  the  tendency  which  delay  has  to  make  a  compliance 
with  these  demands  more  difficult  than  it  is  at  present. — 7. 
From  the  danger  of  God's  withdrawing  his  Spirit,  compared 
with  the  dreadful  case  of  a  sinner  given  up  by  it. — 8.  Which 
probably  is  now  the  case  of  many. — 9.  Since,  therefore,  on  the 
whole,  whatever  the  event  be,  delays  may  prove  matter  of 
lamentation. — 10.  The  chapter  concludes  with  an  exhortation 
against  yielding  to  them,  and  a  prayer  against  temptations  of 
that  kind. 

1.  I  HOPE  my  last  address  so  far  awakened  the 
convictions  of  my  reader,  as  to  bring  him  to  this  pur- 
pose— "that  some  time  or  other  he  would  attend  to 
religious  considerations."  But  give  me  leave  to  ask, 
earnestly  and  pointedly,  "When  shall  that  be  ?  "Go 
thy  way  for  this  time ;  when  I  have  a  convenient 
season,  I  will  call  for  thee,"  Acts  24  :  25,  was  the 
language  and  ruin  of  unhappy  Felix,  when  he  trem- 
bled under  the  reasonings  and  expostulations  of  the 


44  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

apostle.  The  tempter  presumed  not  to  urge  that  he 
should  give  up  all  thoughts  of  repentance  and  refor- 
mation ;  but  only  that,  considering  the  present  hurry 
of  his  affairs,  as  no  doubt  they  were  many,  he  should 
defer  it  to  another  day.  The  artifice  succeeded,  and 
Felix  was  undone. 

2.  Will  you,  reader,  dismiss  me  thus  ?     For  your 
own  sake,  and  out  of  tender  compassion  to  your  per- 
ishing, immortal  soul,  I  would  not  willingly  take  up 
with  such  a  dismission  and  excuse — no,  not  though 
you  shall  fix  a  time  ;  though  you  shall  determine  on 
the  next  year,  or  month,  or  week,  or  day.     I  would 
turn  upon  you,  with  all  the  eagerness  and  tenderness 
of  friendly  importunity,  and  entreat  you  to  bring  the 
matter  to  an  issue  even  now.     For  if  you  say,  "  I 
will  think  on  these  things  to-morrow,"  I  shall  have 
little  hope  ;  and  shall  conclude  that  all  that  I  have 
hitherto  urged,  and  all  that  you  have  read,  has  been 
offered  and  viewed  in  vain. 

3.  When  I  invite  you  to  the  care  and  practice  of 
religion,  it  may  seem  strange  that  it  should  be  neces- 
sary for  me  affectionately  to  plead  the  cause  with 
you,  in  order  to  your  immediate  regard  and  compli- 
ance.    What  I  am  inviting  you  to  is  so  noble  and 
excellent  in  itself,  so  well  worthy  of  the  dignity  of 
our  rational  nature,  so  suitable  to  it,  so  manly  and 
so  wise,  that  one  would  imagine  you  should  take 
fire,  as  it  were,  at  the  first  hearing  of  it ;  yea,  that 


UNCERTAINTY    OF  LIFE.  45 

so  delightful  a  view  should  presently  possess  your 
whole  soul  with  a  kind  of  indignation  against  your- 
eelf  that  you  pursued  it  no  sooner.  "  May  I  lift  up 
my  eyes  and  my  soul  to  God ;  may  I  devote  myself 
to  him ;  may  I  even  now  commence  a  friendship 
with  him — a  friendship  which  shall  last  for  ever,  the 
security,  the  delight,  the  glory  of  this  immortal  na- 
ture of  mine — and  shall  I  draw  back,  and  say, 
Nevertheless,  let  me  not  commence  this  friendship 
too  soon :  let  me  live  at  least  a  few  weeks,  or  a  few 
days  longer  without  God  in  the  world  ?"  Surely,  it 
would  be  much  more  reasonable  to  turn  inward,  and 
say,  "  0,  my  soul,  on  what  vile  husks  hast  thou  been 
feeding,  while  thy  heavenly  Father  has  been  forsaken 
and  injured  !  Shall  I  desire  to  multiply  the  days  of 
my  poverty,  my  scandal,  and  my  misery  ?"  On  this 
principle,  surely  an  immediate  return  to  God  should 
in  all  reason  be  chosen,  rather  than  to  play  the  fool 
any  longer,  and  go  on  a  little  more  to  displease  God, 
and  thereby  starve  and  wound  your  own  soul,  even 
though  your  continuance  in  life  were  ever  so  certain, 
and  your  capacity  to  return  to  God  and  your  duty 
ever  so  entirely  in  your  power,  now,  and  in  every 
future  moment,  through  scores  of  years  yet  to  come. 
4.  But  who  and  what  are  you,  that  you  should 
lay  your  account  for  years  or  for  months  to  come  ? 
"  What  is  your  life  ?  Is  it  not  even  as  a  vapor,  that 
appeareth  for  a  little  time,  and  then  vanisheth  away  ?" 


46  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

James  4  :  14.  And  what  is  your  security,  or  what 
is  your  peculiar  warrant,  that  you  should  thus  depend 
upon  the  certainty  of  its  continuance,  and  that  so 
absolutely  as  to  venture,  as  it  were,  to  pawn  your 
soul  upon  it  ?  "  "Why,"  you  will  perhaps  say,  "  I  am 
young,  and  in  all  my  bloom  and  vigor ;  I  see  hun- 
dreds about  me  who  are  more  than  double  my  age, 
and  not  a  few  of  them  who  seem  to  think  it  too  soon 
to  attend  to  religion  yet." 

You  view  the  living,  and  you  talk  thus.  But  I 
beseech  you,  think  of  the  dead.  Return,  in  your 
thoughts,  to  those  graves  in  which  you  have  left 
some  of  your  young  companions  and  your  friends 
You  saw  them  a  while  ago  gay  and  active,  warm 
with  life,  and  hopes,  and  schemes.  And  some  of 
them  would  have  thought  a  friend  strangely  impor- 
tunate that  should  have  interrupted  them  in  their 
business  and  their  pleasures,  with  a  solemn  lecture 
on  death  and  eternity.  Yet  they  were  then  on  the 
very  borders  of  both.  You  have  since  seen  their 
corpses,  or  at  least  their  coffins,  and  probably  carried 
about  with  you  the  badges  of  mourning  which  you 
received  at  their  funerals.  Those  once  vigorous,  and 
perhaps  beautiful  bodies  of  theirs,  now  lie  moulder- 
ing in  the  dust,  as  senseless  and  helpless  as  the  most 
decrepid  pieces  of  human  nature  which  fourscore 
years  ever  brought  down  to  it.  And,  what  is  infi- 
nitely more  to  be  regarded,  their  souls,  whether  pre- 


DYING   UNPREPARED.  47 

pared  for  this  great  change,  or  thoughtless  of  it,  have 
made  their  appearance  before  God,  and  are  at  this 
moment  fixed,  either  in  heaven  or  in  hell.  Now  let 
me  seriously  ask  you,  would  it  'be  miraculous,  or 
would  it  be  strange,  if  such  an  event  should  befall 
you  ?  How  are  you  sure  that  some  fatal  disease 
will  not  this  day  begin  to  work  in  your  veins  ?  How 
are  you  sure  that  you  shall  ever  be  capable  of  read- 
ing or  thinking  any  more,  if  you  do  not  attend  to 
what  you  now  read,  and  pursue  the  thought  which 
is  now  offering  itself  to  your  mind  ?  This  sudden 
alteration  may  at  least  possibly  happen ;  and  if  it 
does,  it  will  be  to  you  a  terrible  one  indeed.  To  be 
thus  surprised  into  the  presence  of  a  forgotten  God  ; 
to  be  torn  away,  at  once,  from  a  world  to  which 
your  whole  heart  and  soul  has  been  riveted — a  world 
which  has  engrossed  all  your  thoughts  and  cares,  all 
your  desires  and  pursuits ;  and  be  fixed  in  a  state 
which  you  never  could  be  so  far  persuaded  to  think 
of,  as  to  spend  so  much  as  one  hour  in  serious  prepa- 
ration for  it :  how  must  you  even  shudder  at  the  ap- 
prehension of  it,  and  with  what  horror  must  it  filJ 
you !  It  seems  matter  of  wonder,  that  in  such  cir- 
cumstances you  are  not  almost  distracted  with  the 
thoughts  of  the  uncertainty  of  life,  and  are  not  even 
ready  to  die  for  fear  of  death.  To  trifle  with  God 
any  longer,  after  so  solemn  an  admonition  as  this, 
would  be  a  circumstance  of  additional  provocation, 


48  RISE   AND    PROGRESS. 

which,  after  all  the  rest,  might  be  fatal ;  nor  is  there 
any  thing  you  can  expect  in  such  a  case,  but  that 
he  should  cut  you  off  immediately,  and  teach  other 
thoughtless  creatures,  by  your  ruin,  what  a  hazard- 
ous experiment  they  make  when  they  act  as  you  are 
acting. 

5.  And  will  you,  after  all,  run  this  desperate  risk? 
For  what  imaginable  purpose  can  you  do  it  ?  Do 
you  think  the  business  of  religion  will  become  less 
necessary  or  more  easy  by  your  delay  ?  You  know 
that  it  will  not.  You  know,  that  whatever  the 
blessed  God  demands  now,  he  will  also  demand 
twenty  or  thirty  years  hence,  if  you  should  live  to 
see  the  time.  God  has  fixed  his  method,  in  which 
he  will  pardon  and  accept  sinners,  in  his  Gospel. 
And  will  he  ever  alter  that  method  ?  Or,  if  he  will 
not,  can  men  alter  it  ?  You  like  not  to  think  of  re- 
penting, and  humbling  yourself  before  God,  to  receive 
righteousness  and  life  from  his  free  grace  in  Christ ; 
and  you,  above  all,  dislike  the  thought  of  returning 
to  God  in  the  ways  of  holy  obedience.  But  will  he 
ever  dispense  with  any  of  these,  and  publish  a  new 
Gospel,  with  promises  of  life  and  salvation  to  impen- 
itent, unbelieving  sinners,  if  they  will  but  call  them- 
Btlves  Christians,  and  submit  to  a  few  external  rites? 
How  long  do  you  think  you  might  wait  for  such  a 
change  in  the  constitution  of  things  ?  You  know 
death  will  come  upon  you,  and  you  cannot  but  know, 


WORK   DIFFICULT  BY  DELAY.  49 

in  your  own  conscience,  that  a  general  dissolution 
will  come  upon  the  world  long  before  God  can  thus 
deny  himself,  and  contradict  all  his  perfections  and 
all  his  declarations. 

6.  Or,  if  his  demands  continue  the  same,  as  they 
assuredly  will,  do  you  think  any  thing  which  is  now 
disagreeable  to  you  in  them,  will  be  less  disagreeable 
hereafter  than  it  is  at  present  ?     Shall  you  love  to 
sin  less,  when  it  becomes  more  habitual  to  you,  and 
when  your  conscience  is  yet  more  enfeebled  and  de- 
bauched ?    If  you  are  running  with  the  footmen  and 
fainting,  shall  you  be  able   "to  contend  with  the 
horsemen?"    Jer.  12  :  5.     Surely  you  cannot  imag- 
ine it.     You  would  not  say,  in  any  disease  which 
threatened  your  life,  "I  will  stay  till  I  grow  a  little 
worse,  and  then  I  will  apply  to  a  physician ;  I  will 
let  my  disease  get  a  little  more  rooting  in  my  vitals, 
and  then  I  will  try  what  can  be  done  to  remove  it.' 
No,  it  is  only  where  the  life  of  the  soul  is  concerned 
that  men  think  thus  wildly ;  the  life  and  health  of 
the  body  appear  too  precious  to  be  thus  trifled  away. 

7.  If,  after  such  desperate  experiments,  you  are 
ever  recovered,  it  must  be  by  an  operation  of  divine 
grace  on  your  soul,  yet  more  powerful  and  more  won- 
derful in  proportion  to  the  increasing  inveteracy  of 
your  spiritual  maladies.     And  can  you  expect  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  should  be  more  ready  to  assist  you, 
in  consequence  of  your  having  so  shamefully  .trifled 

Rise  and  Prog.  A 


50  RISE   AND    PROGRESS. 

with  him,  and  affronted  him  ?  He  is  now,  in  some 
measure,  moving  on  your  heart.  If  you  feel  any  se- 
cret relentings  in  it  upon  what  you  read,  it  is  a  sign 
that  you  are  not  yet  utterly  forsaken.  But  who  can 
tell  whether  these  are  not  the  last  touches  he  will 
ever  give  to  a  heart  so  long  hardened  against  him"? 
Who  can  tell,  but  God  may  this  day  "  swear,  in  his 
wrath,  that  you  shall  not  enter  into  his  rest  ?"  Heb. 
3  :  18.  I  have  been  telling  you  that  you  may  im- 
mediately die.  You  own  it  is  possible  you  "may: 
And  can  you  think  of  any  thing  more  terrible  ?  Yes, 
sinner,  I  will  tell  you  of  one  thing  more  dreadful 
than  immediate  death  and  immediate  damnation. 
The  blessed  God  may  say,  "  As  for  that  wretched 
creature,  who  has  so  long  trifled  with  me  and  pro- 
voked me,  let  him  still  live ;  let  him  live  in  the 
midst  of  prosperity  and  plenty ;  let  him  live  under 
the  purest  and  the  most  powerful  ordinances  of  the. 
Gospel,  too,  that  he  may  abuse  them  to  aggravate 
his  condemnation,  and  die  under  sevenfold  guilt,  and 
a  sevenfold  curse.  I  will  not  give  him  the  grace  to 
think  of  his  ways  for  one  serious  moment  more  ;  but 
he  shall  go  on  from  bad  to  worse,  filling  up  the 
measure  of  his  iniquities,  till  death  and  destruction 
seize  him  in  an  unexpected  hour,  and  '  wrath  come 
upon  him  to  the  uttermost.'  "  1  Thess.  2  :  16. 

8.  You  think  this  is  an  uncommon  case  ;  but  I 
fear  it  is  much  otherwise.     J  fear  there  are  few  con- 


WORK  DIFFICULT  BY  DELAY.  51 

gregations  where  the  word  of  God  has  been  faithfully 
preached,  and  where  it  has  long  been  despised,  espe- 
cially by  those  whom  it  had  once  awakened,  in  which 
the  eye  of  God  does  not  see  a  number  of  such 
wretched  souls ;  though  it  is  ^impossible  for  us,  in 
this  mortal  state,  to  pronounce  upon  the  case  who 
they  are. 

9.  I  pretend  not  to  say  how  he  will  deal  with  you, 
0.  reader ;  whether  he  will  immediately  cut  you  off, 
-or  seal  you  up  under  final  hardness  and  impenitency 
of  heart,  or  whether  his  grace  may  at  length  awaken 
you  to  consider  your  ways,  and  return  to  him,  even 
when  your  heart  is  grown  yet  more  obdurate  than  it 
is  at  present.     For  to  his  almighty  grace  nothing  is 
hard,  not  even  to  transform  a  rock  of  marble  into  a 
man  or  a  saint.     But  this  I  will  confidently  say,  that 
if  you  delay  any  longer,  the  time  will  come  when 
you  will  bitterly  repent  of  that  delay,  and  either  la- 
ment it  before  God  in  the  anguish  of  your  heart  here, 
or  curse  your  own  folly  and  madness  in  hell ;  yea, 
when  you  will  wish,  that,  dreadful  as  hell  is,  you  had 
rather  fallen  into  it  sooner,  than  have  lived  in  the 
midst  of  so  many  abused  mercies,  to  render  the  de- 
gree of  your  punishment  more  insupportable,  and  your 
sense  of  it  more  exquisitely  tormenting. 

10.  I  do  therefore  earnestly  exhort  you,  in  the 
name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  the  worth, 
and,  if  I  may  so  speak,  by  the  blood  of  your  immor- 


52  RISE    AND   PROGRESS. 

tal  and  perishing  soul,  that  you  delay  not  a  day  or 
an  hour  longer.  Far  from  "giving  sleep  to  your 
eyes,  or  slumber  to  your  eyelids,"  Prov.  6  : 4,  in  the 
continued  neglect  of  this  important  concern,  take  with 
you,  even  now,  "words,  and  turn  unto  the  Lord," 
Hos.  14  :  2;  and  before  you  quit  the  place  where  you 
now  are,  fall  upon  your  knees  in  his  sacred  presence, 
and  pour  out  your  heart  in  such  language,  or  at  least 
to  some  such  purpose  as  this : 

A  PRAYER  FOR  ONE  WHO  IS  TEMPTED  TO  DELAY  APPLY- 
ING TO  RELIGION,  THOUGH  UNDER  SOME  CONVICTION 
OF  ITS  IMPORTANCE. 

"0  thou  righteous  and  holy  Sovereign  of  heaven 
and  earth ;  thou  God,  '  in  whose  hand  my  breath  is, 
and  whose  are  all  my  ways!'  Dan.  5  :  23.  I  con- 
fess I  have  been  far  from  glorifying  thee,  or  con- 
ducting myself  according  to  the  intimations  or  the 
declarations  of  thy  will.  I  have  therefore  reason  to 
adore  thy  forbearance  and  goodness,  that  thou  hast 
not  long  since  stopped  my  breath,  and  cut  me  ofl 
from  the  land  of  the  living.  I  adore  thy  patience, 
that  I  have  not,  months  and  years  ago,  been  an  in- 
habitant of  hell,  where  ten  thousand  delaying  sin- 
ners are  now  lamenting  their  folly,  and  will  be  la- 
menting it  for  ever.  But,  0  God,  how  possible  is  it 
that  this  trifling  heart  of  mine  may  at  length  betray 
me  into  the  same  ruin ;  and  then,  alas,  into  a  ruin 


PRAYER   UNDER    CONVICTION.  53 

aggravated  by  all  this  patience  and  forbearance  of 
thine !  I  am  convinced  that,  sooner  or  later,  religion 
must  be  my  serious  care,  or  I  am  undone.  And  yet 
my  foolish  heart  draws  back  from  the  yoke ;  yet  I 
stretch  myself  upon  the  bed  of  sloth,  and  cry  out  for 
a  little  more  sleep,  a  little  more  slumber,  a  little  more 
folding  of  the  hands  to  sleep.  Prov.  6  :  10.  Thus 
does  my  corrupt  heart  plead  for  its  own  indulgence 
against  the  conviction  of  my  better  judgment.  What 
shall  I  say  ?  0  Lord,  save  me  from  myself.  Save 
me  from  the  artifices  and  deceitfulness  of  sin.  Save 
me  from  the  treachery  of  this  perverse  and  degene- 
rate nature  of  mine,  and  fix  upon  my  mind  what  I 
have  now  been  reading. 

"  0  Lord,  I  am  not  now  instructed  in  truths  which 
were  before  quite  unknown.  Often  have  I  been 
warned  of  the  uncertainty  of  life,  and  the  great  un- 
certainty of  the  day  of  salvation.  And  I  have  formed 
some  light  purposes,  and  have  begun  to  take  a  few 
irresolute  steps  in  my  way  towards  a  return  to  thee. 
But,  alas,  I  have  been  only,  as  it  were,  fluttering 
about  religion,  and  have  never  fixed  upon  it.  All  my 
resolutions  have  been  scattered  like  smoke,  or  dis- 
persed like  a  cloudy  vapor  before  the  wind.  0  that 
thou  wouldst  now  bring  these  things  home  to  my 
heart,  with  a  more  powerful  conviction  than  it  hath 
ever  yet- felt.  0  that  thou  wouldst  pursue  me  with 
them,  even  when  I  flee  from  them.  If  I  should  even 


54  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

grow  mad  enough  to  endeavor  to  escape  them  any 
more,  may  thy  Spirit  address  me  in  the  language  of 
effectual  terror,  and  add  all  the  most  powerful  meth- 
ods which  thou  knowest  to  be  necessary  to  awaken 
me  from  this  lethargy,  which  must  otherwise  be 
mortal.  May  the  sound  of  these  things  be  in  mine 
ears  '  when  I  go  out,  and  when  I  come  in,  when  I 
lie  down,  and  when  I  rise  up.'  Deut.  6:7.  And  il 
the  repose  of  the  night  and  the  business  of  the  day 
be  for  a  while  interrupted  by  the  impression,  be  it 
BO,  0  God;  if  I  may  but  thereby  carry  on  my  busi- 
ness with  thee  to  better  purpose,  and  at  length  secure 
a  repose  in  thee,  instead  of  all  that  terror  which  I 
now  find  when  '  I  think  upon  God,  and  am  troubled.' 
Psalms  77:  3. 

"0  Lord,  'my  flesh  tremble th  for  fear  of  thee,  and 
I  am  afraid  of  thy  judgments.'  Psa.  1 19 : 120.  I  am 
afraid  lest,  even  now  that  I  have  begun  to  think  »of 
religion,  thou  shouldst  cut  me  off  in  this  critical  and 
important  moment,  before  my  thoughts  grow  to  any 
ripeness,  and  blast  in  eternal  death  th*e  first  buddings 
and  openings  of  it  in  my  mind.  But  0,  spare  me,  I 
earnestly  entreat  thee :  for  thy  mercies'  sake,  spare 
me  a  little  longer.  It  may  be,  through  thy  grace  I 
shall  return.  It  may  be,  if  thou  continuest  thy  pa- 
tience towards  me  a  while  longer,  there  may  be  '  some 
better  fruit  produced  by  this  cumberer  of  the  ground.' 
Luke  13:7,  8.  And  may  the  remembrance  of  that 


PRAYER   UNDER    CONVICTION.  55 

long  forbearance  which  thou  hast  already  exercised 
towards  me,  prevent  my  continuing  to  trifle  with  thee, 
and  with  my  own  soul.  From  this  day,  0  Lord, 
from  this  hour,  from  this  moment,  may  I  be  able  to 
date  more  lasting  impressions  of  religion  than  have 
ever  yet  been  made  upon  my  heart  by  all  that  I  have 
ever  read,  or  all  that  I  have  heard.  Amen." 


56  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  SINNER  ARRAIGNED  AND  CONVICTED. 

1.  Conviction  of  guilt  necessary. — 2.  A  charge  of  rebellion 
against  God  advanced., — 3.  Where  it  is  shown,  that  all  men 
are  born  under  God's  law.- — 4.  That  no  man  hath  perfectly 
kept  it. — 5.  An  appeal  to  the  reader's  conscience  oji  this  head, 
that  he  hath  not. — 6.  That  to  have  broken  it,  is  an  evil  inex- 
pressibly great. — 7.  Illustrated  by  a  more  particular  view  of 
the  aggravations  of  this  guilt,  arising,  from  knowledge. — 8. 
From  divine  favors  received. — 9..  From  convictions  of  con- 
science overborne. — 10.  From  the  strivings  of  God's  Spirit 
resisted. — 11.  From  vows  and  resolutions  broken. — 12.  The 
charges  summed  up/ and  left  upon  the  sinner's  conscience.— 
The  sinner's  confession  under  a  general  conviction  of  guilt . 

1 .  As  I  am  attempting  to  lead  you  to  true  religion, 
and  not  merely  to  some  superficial  form  of  it,  I  am 
sensible  I  can  do  it  no  otherwise  than  in  the  way  oi. 
deep  humiliation.  And  therefore,  supposing  you  are 
persuaded,  through  the  divine  blessing  on  what  you. 
have  before  read,  to  take  it  into  consideration,  I  would 
now  endeavor,  in  the  first  place,  with  all  the  serious- 
ness I  can,  to  make  you  heartily  sensible  of  your  guilt 
before  God.  For  I  well  know,  that,  unless  you  are 
convinced  of  this,  and  affected  with  the  conviction, 
all  the  provisions  of  gospel  grace  will  be  slighted, 
and  your  soul  infallibly  destroyed,  in  the  midst  of  the 


THE    SINNER   CONVICTED.  57 

noblest  means  appointed  for  its  recovery.  I  am  fully 
persuaded  that  thousands  live  and  die  in  a  course  of 
sin,  without  feeling  upon  their  hearts  any  sense  that 
they  are  sinners,  though  they  cannot,  for  shame,  but 
own  it  in  words.  And  therefore  let  me  deal  faith- 
fully with  you,  though  I  may  seem  to  deal  roughly ; 
for  complaisance  is  not  to  give  law  to  addresses  in 
which  the  life  of  your  soul  is  concerned. 

•2.  Permit  me  therefore,  0  sinner,  to  consider  my- 
self at  this  time  as  an  advocate  for  God,  as  one  em- 
ployed in  his  name  to  plead  against  thee,  and  to 
charge  thee  with  nothing  less  than  being  a  rebel  and 
a  traitor  against  the  Sovereign  Majesty  of  heaven 
and  earth.  However  thou  mayest  be  dignified  or 
distinguished  among  men ;  if  the  noblest  blood  run 
in  thy  veins ;  if  thy  seat  were  among  princes,  and 
thine  arm  were  "  the  terror  of  the  mighty  in  the  land 
of  the  living,"  Ezek.  32  :  27,  it  would  .be  necessary 
thou  .shouldst  be  told,  and  told  plainly,  thou  hast 
broken  the  laws  of  the  King  of  kings,  and  by  the 
breach  of  them  art  become  obnoxious  to  his  righteous 
condemnation. 

3.  Your  conscience  tells  you  that  you  were  born 
the  natural  subject  of  God,  bom  under  the  indispen- 
sable obligations  of  his  law.  For  it  is  most  apparent 
that  the  constitution  of  your  rational  nature,  which 
makes  you  capable  of  receiving  law  from  God,  binds 
you  to  obey  it.  And  it  is  eoually  evident  and  cer- 


58  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

tain,  that  you  have  not  exactly  obeyed  this  law,  nay, 
that  you  have  violated  it  in  many  aggravated  in- 
stances. 

4.  "Will  you  dare  to  deny  this  ?     Will  you  dare  to 
assert  your  innocence  ?     Remember,  it  must  be  a 
complete  innocence ;  yes,  and  a  perfect  righteousness 
too,  or  it  can  stand  you  in  no  stead,  farther  than  to 
prove,  that  though  a  condemned  sinner,  you  are  not 
quite  so  criminal  as  some  others,  and  will  not  have 
quite  so  hot  a  place  in  hell  as  they.     And  when  this 
is  considered,  will  you  plead  not  guilty  to  the  charge  ? 
Search  the  records  of  your  own  conscience,  for  God 
searcheth  them:  ask  it  seriously,  "Have  you  never 
in  your  life  sinned  against  God?"     Solomon  declar- 
ed, that  in  his  days  "there  was  not  a  just  man  upon 
earth,  who  did  good,  and  sinned  not,"  Eccles.  7  :  20 ; 
and  the  apostle  Paul,  "that  all  had  sinned,  and  come 
short  of  the  glory  of  God,"  Rom.  3  :  23,  "that  both 
Jews  and  Gentiles,"  which,  you  know,  comprehend 
the  whole  human  race,  "were  all  under  sin."    Rom. 
3:9.     And  can  you  pretend  any  imaginable  reason 
to  believe  the  world  is  grown  so  much  better  since 
their  days,,  that  any  should  now  plead  their  own 
case  as  an  exception?     Or  will  you,  however,  pre- 
sume to  arise  in  the  face  of  the  omniscient  Majesty 
of  heaven,  and  say,  I  am  the  man  ? 

5.  Supposing,  as  before,  you  have  been  free  from 
those  gross  acts  of  immorality  which  are  so  pernicious 


THE    SINNER    CONVICTED.  59 

to  society  that  they  have  generally  been  punishable 
by  human  laws ;  can  you  pretend  that  you  have  not, 
in  smaller  instances,  violated  the  rules  of  piety,  of 
temperance,  and  charity  ?  Is  there  any.  one  person, 
who  has  intimately  'known  you,  that  would  not  be 
able  to  testify  you  had  said  or  done  something  amiss  ? 
Or  if  others  could  not  convict  you,  would  not  your 
own  heart  do  it?  Does  it  not  prove  you  guilty  of 
pride,  of  passion,  of  sensuality,  of  an  excessive  fond- 
ness of  the  world  and  its  enjoyments  ;  of  murmuring, 
or  at  least,  of  secretly  repining  against  God,  under 
the  strokes  of  an  afflictive  providence ;  of  misspend- 
ing a  great  deal  of  your  time ;  abusing  the  gifts  of 
God's  bounty  to  vain,  if  not,  in  some  instances,  to 
pernicious  purposes ;  of  mocking  him  when  you  have 
pretended  to  engage  in  his  worship,  "  drawing  near 
to  him  with  your  mouth  and  your  lips,  while  your 
heart  has  been  far  from  him  ?"  Isa.  29  : 13.  Does 
not  conscience  condemn  you  of  some  one  breach  of 
the  law  at  least  ?  And  by  one  breach  of  it  you  are, 
in  a  sense,  a  scriptural  sense,  "  become  guilty  of  all," 
Jam.  2  :  10,  and  are  as  incapable  of  being  justified  . 
before  God,  by  any  obedience  of  your  own,  as  if  you 
had  committed  ten  thousand  offences.  But,  in  real- 
ity, there  are  ten  thousand  and  more  chargeable  to 
your  account.  When  you  come  to  reflect  on  all  your 
sins  of  negligence,  as  well  as  on  thpse  of  commission ; 
on  all  the  instances  in  which  you  have  "-failed  to 


60  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

do  good  when  it  was  in  the  power  of  your  hand  to 
do  it,"  Prov.  3  :  27 ;  on  all  the  instances  in  which 
acts  of  devotion  have  been  omitted,  especially  in 
secret ;  and  on  all  those  cases  in  which  you  have 
shown  a  stupid  disregard  .to  the  honor  of  God,  and 
to  the  temporal  and  eternal  happiness  of  your  fellow- 
creatures:  when  all  these,  I  say,  are  reviewed,  the 
number  will  swell  beyond  all  possibility  of  account, 
and  force  you  to  cry  out,  "Mine  iniquities  are  more 
than  the  hairs  of  my  head."  Psa.  40  :  12.  They 
will  appear  in  such  a  light  before  you,  that  your  own 
heart  will  charge  you  writh  countless  multitudes ;  and 
how  much  more,  then  that  God,  who  is  greater 
than  your  heart,  and  knoweth  all  things.  1  John, 
3  :  20. 

6.  And  say,  sinner,  is  it  a  little  thing  that  you 
have  presumed  to  set  light  by  the  authority  of  the 
God  of  heaven,  and  to  violate  his  law,  if  it  had  been 
by  mere  carelessness  ancl  inattention  ?  How  much 
more  heinous,  therefore,  is  the  guilt,  when  •  in  so 
many  instances  you  have  done  it  knowingly  and 
wilfully.  Give  me  leave  seriously  to  ask  you,  and 
let  me  entreat  you  to  ask  your  own-  soul,  "  Against 
whom  hast  thou  magnified  thyself?  against  whorq 
hast  thou  exalted  thy  voice,"  2  Kings,  19':  22,  01 
"  lifted  Up  thy  rebellious  hand  ?"  On  whose  law,  0 
sinner,  hast  thou  presumed  to  trample ; .  and  whose 
friendship,  and  whose  enmity,  hast  thou  thereby 


EVIL  OF  OFFENDING  GOD.  61 

dared  to  affront  ?  Is  it  a  man  like  thyself  that  thou 
hast  insulted  ?  Is  it  only  a  temporal  monarch — only 
one  "  who  can  kill  thy  hody,  and  then  hath  no  more 
that  he  can  do  ?"  Luke  12  :  4. 

Nay,  sinner,  thou  wouldst  not  have  dared  to  treat 
a  temporal  prince  as  thou  hast  treated  the  "  King 
Eternal,  Immortal,"  and  "  Invisible."  1  Tim.  1  : 17. 
No  price  could  have  hired  thee  to  deal  by  the  maj- 
esty of  an  earthly  sovereign,  as  thou  hast  dealt  by 
that  God  before  whom  the  cherubim  and  seraphim 
are  continually  bowing.  Not  one  opposing  or  com- 
plaining, disputing  or  murmuring  word  is  heard 
among  all  the  celestial  legions,  when  the  intimations 
of  his  will  are  published  to  them.  And  who  art 
thou,  0  wretched  man,  who  art  thou,  that  thou 
shouldst  oppose  him?  That  thou  shouldst  oppose 
and  provoke  a  God  of  infinite  power  and  terror,  who 
needs  but  exert  one  single  act  of  his  sovereign  will, 
and  thou  art  in  a  moment  stripped  of  every  posses- 
sion ;  cut  off  from  every  hope  ;  destroyed  and  rooted 
up  from  existence,  if  that  were  his  pleasure ;  or, 
what-  is  inconceivably  worse,  consigned  over  to  the 
severest  and  most  lasting  agonies  ?  Yet  this  is  the 
God  whom  thou  hast  offended,  whom  thou  lj.ast  af- 
fronted to  his  face,  presuming  to  violate  his  express 
laws  in  his  very  presence.  This  is  the  God  before 
whom  thou  standest  as  a  convicted  criminal ;  con- 
victed not  of  one  or  two  .particular  offences,  but  of 


62  RISE  AND   PROGRESS. 

thousands  and  ten  thousands  ;  of  a  course  and  series 
of  rebellion  and  provocations,  in  which  thou  hast 
persisted  more  or  less  ever  since  thou  wast  Lorn, 
and  the  particulars  of  which  have  been  attended 
with  almost  every  conceivable  circumstance  of  ag- 
gravation. Reflect  on  particulars,  and  deny  the 
charge  if  you  can. 

7.  If  knowledge  be  an  aggravation  of  guilt,  thy 
guilt,  0  sinner,  is  greatly  aggravated.  For  thou  wast 
born  in  Emmanuel's  land,  and  God  hath  "  written 
to  thee  the  great  things  of  his  law,"  yet  "  thou  hast 
accounted  them  as  a  strange  thing."  Hos.  8  :  12. 
Thou  hast  "  known  to  do  good,  and  hast  not  done 
it,"  James  4  :  17  ;•  and  therefore  to  thee  the  omis- 
sion of  it  has  been  sin  indeed.  "Hast  thou  not 
known?  Hast  thou  not  heard?"  Isa.  40  :  28. 
Wast  thou  not  early  taught  the  will  of  God  ?  Hast 
thou  not  since  received  repeated  lessons,  by  which  it 
has  been  inculcated  again  and  again,  in  public  and 
in  private,  by  preaching  and  reading  the  word  of 
God?  Nay,  hath  not  thy  duty  been  in  some  in- 
stances so  plain,  that,  even  without  any  instruction 
at  all,  thine  own  reason  might  easily  have  inferred 
it  ?  And  hast  thou  not  also  been  warned  of  the  con- 
sequences of  disobedience  ?  Hast  thou  not  "  known 
the  righteous  judgment  of  God,  that  they  who  com- 
mit such  things  are  worthy  of  death?"  Yet  thou 
hast,  perhaps,  "  not  only  done  the  same,  but  hast  had 


HEINOUSNESS  OF   SIN.  63 

pleasure  in  those  that  do  them,"  Rom.  1  :  32  ;  hast 
chosen  them  for  thy  most  intimate  friends  and  com- 
panions;  so  as  hereby  to  strengthen,  by  the  force  of 
example  and  converse,  the  hands  of  each  other  in 
your  iniquities. 

8.  Nay  more,  if  divine  love  and  mercy  be  any 
aggravation  of  the  sins  committed  against  it,  thy 
crimes,  0  sinner,  are  heinously  aggravated.  Must 
thou  not  acknowledge  it,  0  foolish  creature  and  un- 
wise ?  Hast  thou  not  been  "  nourished  and  brought 
up  by  him  as  his  child,  and  yet  hast  rebelled  against 
him?"  Isa.  1  :  2.  Did  not  God  "take  you  out -of 
the  womb  ?"  Psalms  22  :  9.  Did  he  not  watch 
over  you  in  your  infant  days,  and  guard  you  from  a 
multitude  of  dangers  which  the  most  careful  parent 
or  nurse  could  not  have  observed  or  warded  off? 
Has  he  not  given  you  your  rational  powers ;  and  is 
it  not  by  him  you  have  been  favored  with  every 
opportunity  of  improving  them  ?  Has  he  not  every 
day  supplied  your  wants  with  an  unwearied  liberal- 
ity, and  added,  with  respect  to  many  who  will  read 
this,  the  delicacies  of  life  to  its  necessary  supports  ? 
Has  he  not  "  heard  you  cry  when  trouble  came  upon 
you  ?"  Job  27  :  9  ;  and  frequently  appeared  for  youi 
deliverance,  when  in  the  distress  of  nature  you  have  ' 
called  upon  him  for  help  ?  Has  he  not  rescued  you 
from  ruin,  when  it  seemed  just  ready  to  swallow  you 
up ;  and  healed  your  diseases,  when  it  seemed  to  al] 


64  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

about  you,  that  the  residue  of  your  days  was  "  cut 
.off  in  the  midst  ?"  Psalms  102  :  24.  Or,  if  it  has 
not  been  so,  is  not  this  long-continued  and  uninter- 
rupted health,  which  you  have  enjoyed  for  so  many 
years,  to  be  acknowledged  as  an  equivalent  obliga- 
tion ?  Look  around  upon  all  your  possessions,  and 
say,  what  one  thing  have  you  in  the  world  which  his 
goodness  did  not  give  you,  and  which  he  hath  not 
thus  far  preserved  to  you  ?  Add  to  all  this,  the  kind 
notice  of  his  will  which  he  hath  sent  you  ;  the  tender 
expostulations  which  he  hath  used  with  you,  to  bring 
you  to  a  wiser  and  better  temper ;  and  the  discover- 
ies and  gracious  invitations  of  his  Gospel  which  you 
have  heard,  and  which  you  hare  despised ;  and  then 
say,  whether  your  rebellion  has  not  been  aggravated 
by  the  vilest  ingratitude,  and  whether  that  aggra- 
vation can  be  accounted  small  ? 

9.  Again,  if  it  be  any  aggravation  of  sin  to  be 
committed  against  conscience,  thy  crimes,  0  sinner, 
have  been  so  aggravated.  Consult  the  records  of  it, 
and  then  dispute  the  fact  if  you  can.  "  There  is  a 
spirit  in  man,  and  the  inspiration  of  the  Almighty 
giveth  him  understanding,"  Job  32  :  8  ;  and  that 
understanding  will  act,  and  a  secret  conviction  of 
being  accountable  to  its  Maker  and  Preserver  is  in- 
separable  from  the  actings  of  it.  It  is  easy  to  object 
to  human  remonstrances,  and  to  give  things  false- 
colorings  before  him  ;  but  the  heart  often  condemns. 


HE1NOUSNESS  OF  SIN.  (35 

while  the  tongue  excuses.  Have  you  not  often  found 
it  so  ?  Has  not  conscience  remonstrated  against  your 
past  conduct,  and  have  not  these  remonstrances  been 
very  painful  too  ?  I  have  been  assured,  by  a  gen- 
tleman of  undoubted  credit,  that,  when  he  was  in 
the  pursuit  of  all  the  gayest  sensualities  of  life,  and 
was  reckoned  one  of  the  happiest  of  mankind,  he  has 
seen  a  dog  come  into  the  room  where  he  was  among 
his  merry  companions,  and  has  groaned  inwardly 
and  said,  "0,  that  I  had  been  that  dog !"  And  hast 
thou,  0  sinner,  felt  nothing  like  this  ?  Has  thy  con- 
science been  so  stupefied,  so  "  seared  with  a  hot 
iron,"  1  Tim.  4  :  2,  that  it  has  never  cried  out  for 
any  of  the  violences  which  have  been  done  it  ?  Has 
it  never  warned  thee  of  the  fatal  consequences  of 
what  thou  hast  done  in  opposition  to  it  ?  These 
warnings  are,  in  effect,  the  voice  of  God ;  they  are 
the  admonitions  which  he  gave  thee  by  his  vice- 
gerent in  thy  breast.  And  when  his  sentence  for 
thy  evil  works  is  executed  upon  thee  in  everlasting 
death,  thou  shalt  hear  that  voice  speaking  to  thee 
again  in  a  louder  tone  and  a  severer  accent  than  be- 
fore ;  and  thou  shalt  be  tormented  with  its  upbraid- 
ing through  eternity,  because  thou  wouldst  not,  in 
time,  hearken  to  its  admonitions. 

10.  Let  me  add  farther,  if  it  be  any  aggravation 
that  sin  has  been  committed  after  God  has  been 
moving  by  his  Spirit  on  the  mind,  surely  your  sin 

Rise  tad  Prog-,  *j 


66  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

has  been  attended  too  with  that  aggravation.  Under 
the  Mosaic  dispensation,  dark  and  imperfect  as  it 
was,  the  Spirit  strove  with  the  Jews ;  else  Stephen 
could  not  have  charged  it  upon  them,  that  through 
all  their  generations  "  they  had  always  resisted  him." 
Acts  7:51.  Now,  surely,  we  may  much  more  rea- 
sonably apprehend  that  he  strives  with  sinners  undei 
the  Gospel.  And  have  you  never  experienced  any 
thing  of  this  kind,  even  when  there  has  been  no  ex- 
ternal circumstance  to  awaken  you,  nor  any  pious 
teacher  near  you  ?  Have  you  never  perceived  some 
secret  impulse  upon  your  mind,  leading  you  to  think 
of  religion,  urging  you  to  an  immediate  consideration 
of  it,  sweetly  inviting  you  to  make  trial  of  it,  and 
warning  you,  that  you  would  lament  this  stupid 
neglect  ?  0  sinner,  why  were  not  these  happy  mo- 
tions attended  to?  Why  did  you  not,  as  it  were, 
spread  out  all  the  sail  of  your  soul  to  catch  that 
heavenly,  that  favorable  breeze  ?  But  you  have 
carelessly  neglected  it :  you  have  overborne  these 
kind  influences.  How  reasonably,  then,  might  the 
sentence  have  gone  forth  in  righteous  displeasure, 
"  My  Spirit  shall  no  more  strive."  Gen.  6  :  3.  And 
indeed  who  can  say  that  it  is  not  already  gone  forth  ? 
If  you  feel  no  secret  agitation  of  mind,  no  remorse, 
no  awakening  while  you  read  such  a  remonstrance 
as  this,  there  will  be  room,  great  room  to  suspect  it. 
1 1 .  There  is  indeed  one  aggravation  more,  which 


CONSCIENCE   STIFLED.  67 

may  not  attend  your  guilt — I  mean  that  of  being 
committed  against  solemn  covenant  engagements  :  a 
circumstance  which  has  lain  heavy  on  the  conscien- 
ces of  many,  who  perhaps  in  the  main  series  of  their 
lives  have  served  God  with  great  integrity.  But  let 
me  call  you  to  think  to  what  this  is  owing.  Is  it 
not  that  you  have  never  personally  made  any  solemn 
profession  of  devoting  yourself  to  God  at  all — have 
never  done  any  thing  which  has  appeared  to  your 
own  apprehension  an  act  by  which  you  have  made 
a  covenant  with  him,  though  you  have  heard  so  much 
of  his  covenant,  though  you  have  been  so  solemnly 
and  so  tenderly  invited  to  it  ?  And  in  this  view, 
how  monstrous  must  this  circumstance  appear,  which 
at  first  was  mentioned  as  some  alleviation  of  guilt. 
Yet  I  must  add,  that  you  are  not,  perhaps,  altogether 
so  free  from  guilt  on  this  head  as  you  may  at  first 
imagine.  Has  your  heart  been,  even  from  your 
youth,  hardened  to  so  uncommon  a  degree  that  you 
have  never  cried  to  God  in  any  season  of  danger  and 
difficulty  ?  And  did  you  never  mingle  vows  with 
those  cries  ?  Did  you  never  promise,  that  if  God 
would  hear  and  help  you  in  that  hour  of  extremity, 
you  would  forsake  your  sins,  and  serve  him  as  long 
as  you  lived  ?  He  heard  and  helped  you,  or  you  had 
not  been  reading  these  lines ;  and,  by  such  deliver- 
ance, did  as  it  were  bind  down  your  vows  upon  you  ; 
and  therefore  your  guilt,  in  the  violation  of  them, 


68  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

remains  before  him,  though  you  are  stupid  enough  to 
forget  them.  Nothing  is  forgotten,  nothing  is  over- 
looked by  him;  and  the  day  will  come,  when  the 
record  shall  be  laid  before  you  too. 

12.  And  now,  0  sinner,  think  seriously  with  thy- 
self what  defence  thou  wilt  make  to  all  this.  Pre- 
pare thine  apology  ;  call  thy  witnesses  ;  make  thine 
appeal  from  him  whom  thou  hast  thus  offended,  to 
some  superior  judge,  if  such  there  be.  Alas,  those 
apologies  are  so  weak  and  vain,  that  one  of  thy  fel- 
low-worms may  easily  detect  and  confound  them ; 
as  I  will  endeavor  presently  to  show  thee.  But  thy 
foreboding  conscience  already  knows  the  issue.  Thou 
art  convicted,  convicted  of  the  most  aggravated  of- 
fences. Thou  "  hast  not  humbled  thine  heart,  but 
lifted  up  thyself  against  the  Lord  of  heaven,"  Dan. 
5  :  22,  23,  and  "  thy  sentence  shall  come  forth  from 
his  presence."  Psalms  17:2.  Thou  hast  violated 
his  known  laws ;  thou  hast  despised  and  abused  his 
numberless  mercies  ;  thou  hast  affronted  conscience, 
his  vicegerent  in  thy  soul ;  thou  hast  resisted  and 
grieved  his  Spirit ;  thou  hast  trifled  with  him  in  all 
thy  pretended  submissions;  and,  in  one  word,  and 
that  his  own,  "  thou  hast  done  evil  things  as  thou 
couldst."  Jer.  3  :  5.  Thousands  are  no  doubt 
already  in  hell  whose  guilt  never  equalled  thine ; 
and  it  is  astonishing  that  God  hath  spared  thee  to 
read  this  representation  of  thy  case,  or  to  make  any 


CONVINCED  SINNER'S  CONFESSION.          69 

pause  upon  it.  0  waste  not  so  precious  a  moment, 
but  enter  attentively,  and  as  humbly  as  thou  canst, 
into  those  reflections  which  suit  a  case  so  lamentable 
and  so  terrible  as  thine. 

THE  CONFESSION  OF  A  SINNER  CONVINCED  IN  GENERAL 
OF  HIS  GUILT. 

"0  God,  thou  injured  Sovereign,  thou  all-pene- 
trating and  Almighty  Judge,  what  shall  I  say  to 
this  charge  ?  Shall  I  pretend  I  am  wronged  by  it, 
and  stand  on  the  defence  in  thy  presence  ?  I  dare  not 
do  it;  for  'thou  knowest  my  foolishness,  and  none 
of  my  sins  are  hid  from  thee.'  Psa.  69  :  5.  My  con- 
science tells  me  that  a  denial  of  my  crimes  would 
only  increase  them,  and  add  new  fuel  to  the  fire  of 
thy  deserved  wrath.  '  If  I  justify  myself,  mine  own 
mouth  will  condemn  me ;  if  I  say  I  am  perfect,  it  will 
also  prove  me  perverse,'  Job  9  :  20  ;  'for  innumerable 
evils  have  compassed  me  about :  mine  iniquities  have 
taken  hold  upon  me,  so  that  I  am  not  able  to  look 
up :  they  are,'  as  I  have  been  told  in  thy  name,  'more 
than  the  hairs  of  my  head;  therefore  my  heart  fail- 
eth  me.'  Psa.  40  :  12.  I  am  more  guilty  than  it  is 
possible  for  another  to  declare  or  represent.  My 
heart  speaks  more  than  any  other  accuser.  And 
thou,  0  Lord,  art  much  greater  than  my  heart,  and 
knowest  all  things.  1  John,  3  :  20. 

"  What  has  my  life  been  but  a  course  of  rebellion 


70  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

against  thee  ?  It  is  not  this  or  that  particular  action 
alone  I  have  to  lament.  Nothing  has  been  right  in 
its  principles,  and  views,  and  ends.  My  whole  soul 
has  been  disordered.  All  my  thoughts,  my  affections, 
my  desires,  my  pursuits  have  been  wretchedly  alien- 
ated from  thee.  I  have  acted  as  if  I  had  hated  thee, 
who  art  infinitely  the  loveliest  of  all  beings ;  as  if  I 
had  been  contriving  how  I  might  tempt  thee  to  the 
uttermost,  and  weary  out  thy  patience,  marvelous  as 
it  is.  My  actions  have  been  evil,  my  words  yet  more 
evil  than  they;  and,  0  blessed  God,  my  heart,  how 
much  more  corrupt  than  either.  What  an  inex- 
hausted  fountain  of  sin  has  there  been  in  it.  A  foun- 
tain of  original  corruption,  which  mingled  its  bitter 
streams  with  the  days  of  early  childhood ;  and  which, 
alas,  flows  on  even  to  this  day,  beyond  what  actions 
or  words  could  express.  I  see  this  to  have  been  the 
case  with  regard  to  what  I  can  particularly  survey. 
But  0,  how  many  months  and  years  have  I  forgotten, 
concerning  which  I  only  know  this  in  the  general, 
that  they  are  much  like  those  I  can  remember ;  ex- 
cept it  be,  that  I  have  been  growing  worse  and  worse, 
and  provoking  thy  patience  more  and  more,  though 
every  new  exercise  of  it  was  more  and  more  won- 
derful. 

"And  how  am  I  astonished  that  thy  forbearance 
Is  still  continued.  It  is  because  thou  art  'God,  and 
not  man.'  Hos.  11  :  9.  Had  I,  a  sinful  worm,  been 


CONVINCED    SINNER'S    CONFESSION.          71 

thus  injured,  I  could  not  have  enflured  it.  Had  I 
been  a  prince,  I  had  long  since  done  justice  on  any 
rebel  whose  crimes  had  borne  but  a  distant  resem- 
blance to  mine.  Had  I  been  a  parent,  I  had  long  since 
cast  off  the  ungrateful  child  who  had  made  me  such 
a  return  as  I  have  all  my  life  long  been  making  to 
thee,  0  thou  Father  of  my  spirit.  The  flame  of  nat- 
ural affection  would  have  been  extinguished,  and  his 
sight  and  his  very  name  would  have  become  hateful 
to  me.  Why  then,  0  Lord,  am  I  not  '  cast  out  from 
thy  presence?'  Jer.  52  : 3.  Why  am  I  rTot  sealed 
up  under  an  irreversible  sentence  of  destruction  ? 
That  I  live,  I  owe  to  thine  indulgence.  But  0,  if 
there  be  yet  any  way  of  deliverance,  if  there  be  yet 
any  hope  for  so  guilty  a  creature,  may  it  be  opened 
upon  me  by  thy  Gospel  and  thy  grace.  And  if  any 
farther  alarm,  humiliation;  or  terror  be  necessary  to 
my  security  and  salvation,  may  I  meet  them  and 
bear  them  all.  Wound  my  heart,  0  Lord,  so  that 
thou  wilt  but  afterwards  'heal  it;'  and  break  it  in 
pieces,  if  thou  wilt  but  at  length  condescend  to  bind 
it  up."  Hos.  6:1. 


72  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

• 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE  SINNER  STRIPPED  OF  HIS  VAIN  PLEAS. 

3,  a.  The  vanity  of  those  pleas  which  sinners  may  secretly 
confide  in  is  so  apparent,  that  they  will  be  ashamed  at  last  to 
mention  them  before  God. — 3.  Such  as,  that  they  descended 
from  pious  parents. — 4.  That  they  had  attended  to  the  specu- 
lative part  of  religion. — 5.  That  they  had  entertained  sound 
notions, — 6,  7.  That  they  had  expressed  a  zealous  regard  to 
religion,  and  attended  the  outward  forms  of  worship  with 
those  they*apprehended  the  purest  churches. — 8.  That  they 
had  been  free  from  gross  immoralities. — 9.  That  they  did  not 
think  the  consequences  of  neglecting  religion  would  have  been 
so  fatal. — 10.  That  they  could  not  do  otherwise  than  they 
did. — 11.  Conclusion.  With  the  meditation  of  a  convinced 
sinner  giving  up  his  vain  pleas  before  God. 

1 .  MY  last  discourse  left  the  sinner  in  very  alarm- 
ing and  very  pitiable  circumstances ;  a  criminal  con- 
victed at  the  bar  of  God,  disarmed  of  all  pretences  to 
perfect  innocence  and  sinless  obedience,  and  conse- 
quently obnoxious  to  the  sentence  of  a  holy  law, 
which  can  make  no  allowance  for  any  transgression, 
no,  not  for  the  least ;  but  pronounces  death  and  a 
curse  against  every  act  of  disobedience :  how  much 
more  then  against  those  numberless  and  aggravated 
acts  of  rebellion,  of  which,  0  sinner,  thy  conscience 
hath  condemned  thee  before  God.  I  would  hope 
some  of  my  readers  will  ingenuously  fall  under  the 


SINNER    STRIPPED   OF    EXCUSES.  73 

conviction,  and  not  think  of  making  any  apology; 
for  sure  I  am,  that,  humbly  to  plead  guilty  at  the 
divine  bar,  is  the  most  decent,  and,  all  things  con- 
sidered, the  most  prudent  thing  that  can  be  done  in 
such  an  unhappy  state.  Yet  I  know  the  treachery 
and  the  self-flattery  of  a  sinful  and  corrupted  heart. 
I  know  what  excuses  it  makes,  and  how,  when  it  is 
driven  from  one  refuge,  it  flies  to  another,  to  fortify 
itself  against  conviction,  and  to  persuade,  not  merely 
another,  but  itself,  "That  if  it  has  been  in  some  in- 
stances to  blame,  it  is  not  quite  so  criminal  as  was 
represented;  that  there  are  at  least  considerations 
that  plead  in  its  favor,  which,  if  they  cannot  justify, 
will  in  some  degree  excuse."  A  secret  reserve  of  this 
kind,  sometimes  perhaps  scarcely  formed  into  a  dis- 
tinct reflection,  breaks  the  force  of  conviction,  and 
often  prevents  that  deep  humiliation  before  God 
which  is  the  happiest  token  of  approaching  deliver- 
ance. I  will  therefore  examine  into  some  of  these 
particulars;  and  for  that  purpose  would  seriously 
ask  thee,  0  sinner,  what  thou  hast  to  offer  in  arrest 
of  judgment?  "What  plea  thou  canst  urge  for  thy- 
self, why  the  sentence  of  God  should  not  go  forth 
against  thee,  and  why  thou  shouldst  not  fall  into  the 
hands  of  his  justice  ? 

2.  But  this  I  must  premise,  that  the  question  is 
not,  How  wouldst  thou  answer  to  me,  a  weak  sinful 
worm  like  thyself,  who  am  shortly  to  stand  with  thee 


*4  RISE   AND  PROGRESS. 

at  the  same  bar?  and  "the  Lord  grant  that  I  may 
find  mercy  of  the  Lord  in  that  day,"  2  Tim.  1:18;  but, 
What  wilt  thou  reply  to  thy  Judge  ?  What  couldst 
thou  plead,  if  thou  wast  now  actually  before  his  tri- 
bunal, where,  to  multiply  vain  words,  and  to  frame 
idle  apologies,  would  be  but  to  increase  thy  guilt  and 
provocation?  Surely  the  very  thought  of  his  pres- 
ence must  supersede  a  thousand  of  those  trifling  ex- 
cuses which  now  sometimes  impose  on  "  a  generation 
that  are  pure  in  their  own  eyes,"  though  they  "are 
not  washed  from  their  filthiness,"  Prov.  30  :  12  ;  or 
while  they  are  conscious  of  their  impurities,  "  trust 
in  words  that  cannot  profit,"  Jer.  7  :  8,  and  "lean 
upon  broken  reeds."  Isa.  36  :  6. 

3.  You  will  not,  to  be  sure,  in  such  a  condition, 
plead  "  that  you  are  descended  from  pious  parents." 
That  was  indeed  your  privilege ;  and  woe  be  to  you 
that  you  have  abused  it,  and  "forsaken  the  God  of 
your  fathers."  2  Chron.  7  :  22.  Ishmael  was  imme- 
diately descended  from  Abraham,  the  friend  of  God, 
and  Esau  was  the  son  of  Isaac,  who  was  born  ac- 
cording to  the  promise;  yet. you  know  they  were 
both  cut  off  from  the  blessing  to  which  they  appre- 
hended they  had  a  kind  of  hereditary  claim.  You 
may  remember  that  our  Lord  does  not  only  speak 
of  one  who  would  call  "Abraham  father,"  who  was 
'tormented  in  flames,"  Luke  16  :  24,  but  expressly 
declares  that  many  of  the  children  of  the  kingdom 


SINNER    STRIPPED    OF   EXCUSES.  75 

shall  be  shut  out  of  it ;  and  when  others  come  from 
the  most  distant  parts  to  sit  down  in  it,  shall  be  dis- 
tinguished from  their  companions  in  misery  only  by 
louder  accents  of  lamentation,  and  more  furious 
"gnashing  of  teeth."  Matt.  8  :  11,  12. 

.  4.  Nor  will  you  then  presume  to  plead,  "that  you 
had  exercised  your  thoughts  about  the  speculative 
parts  of  religion/'  For  to  what  end  can  this  serve 
but  to  increase  your  condemnation  ?  Since  you  have 
broken  God's  lav/,  since  you  have  contradicted  the 
most  obvious  and  apparent  obligations  of  religion,  to 
have  inquired  into  it,  and  argued  upon  it,  is  a  cir- 
cumstance that  proves  your  guilt  more  audacious. 
What,  did  you  think  religion  was  merely  an  exercise 
of  men's  wit,  and  the  amusement  of  their  curiosity? 
If  you  argued  about  it  on  the  principles  of  common 
sense,  you  must  have  judged  and  proved  it  to  be  a 
practical  thing ;  and  if  it  was  so,  why  did  you  not 
practise  accordingly  ?  You  knew  the  particular 
branches  of  it ;  and  why  then  did  you  not  attend  to 
every,one  of  them  ?  To  have  pleaded  an  unavoidable 
ignorance  would  have  been  the  happiest  plea  that 
could  have  remained  for  you ;  nay,  an  actual,  though 
faulty  ignorance,  would  have  been  some  little  allay  of 
your  guilt.  But  if,  by  your  own  confession,  you  have 
"  known  your  Master's  will,  and  have  not  done  it,"  you 
bear  witness  against  yourself,  that  you  deserve  to  be 
"beaten  with  many  stripes."  Luke  12  :  47. 


76  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

5.  Nor  yet,  again,  will  it  suffice  to  say,  "  that  you 
have  had  right  notions  both  of  the  doctrines  and  the 
precepts  of  religion."    Your  advantage  for  practising 
it  was  therefore  the  greater ;  but  understanding  and 
acting  right  can  never  go  for  the  same  thing,  in  the 
judgment  of  God  or  of  man.     In  "  believing  there  is 
one  God,"  you  have  done  well ;  but  the  "  devils  also 
believe  and  tremble."     James  2:19.     In  acknow- 
ledging Christ  to  be  the  Son  of  God  and  the  Holy 
One,  you  have  done  well  too ;  but  you  know  the 
unclean  spirits  made  this  very  orthodox  confession, 
Luke  4  :  34,  41,  and  yet  they  are  "  reserved  in  ever- 
lasting chains,  under  darkness,. unto  the  judgment  of 
the  great  day."     Jude,  ver.  6.     And  will  you  place 
any  secret  confidence  in  that  which  might  be  pleaded 
by  the  infernal  spirits  as  well  as  by  you  ? 

6.  But  perhaps  you  may  think  of  pleading  that 
"you  have   actually  done   something  in   religion." 
Having  judged  what  faith  was  the  soundest,  and 
what  worship  the  purest,  "  you  entered  yourself  into 
those  societies  where  such  articles  of  faith  were  pro- 
fessed, and  such  forms  of  worship  were  practised ; 
and  among  these  you  have  signalized  yourself  by  the 
exactness  of  your  attendance,  by  the  zeal  with  which 
you  have  espoused  their  cause,  and  by  the  earnest- 
ness with  which  you  have  contended  for  such  princi- 
ples and  practices."    0  sinner,  I  much  fear  that  this 
zeal  of  thine  about  the  circumstantials  of  religion, 


SINNER  STRIPPED    OF   EXCUSES.  77 

will  swell  thine  account,  rather  than  be  allowed  in 
abatement  of  it.  He  that  searches  thine  heart  knows 
from  whence  it  arose,  and  how  far  it  extended. 
Perhaps  he  sees  that  it  was  all  hypocrisy,  an  artful 
veil  under  which  thou  wast  carrying  on  thy  mean 
designs  for  this  world,  while  the  sacred  name  of  God 
and  religion  were  profaned  and  prostituted  in  the 
basest  manner ;  and  if  so,  thou  art  cursed  with  a 
distinguished  curse  for  so  daring  an  insult  on  the 
divine  omniscience  as  well  as  justice.  Or  perhaps 
the  earnestness  with  which  you  have  been  "  con- 
tending for  the  faith  and  worship  which  was  once 
delivered  to  the  saints,"  Jude,  ver.  3,  or  which  it  is 
possible  you  may  have  rashly  concluded  to  be  that, 
might  be  mere  pride  and  bitterness  of  spirit ;  and  all 
the  zeal  you  have  expressed  might  possibly  arise 
from  a  confidence  of  your  own  judgment,  from  an 
impatience  of  contradiction,  or  some  secret  malignity 
of  spirit,  which  delighteth  itself  in  condemning,  and 
even  in  worrying  others ;  yea,  which,  if  I  may  be 
allowed  the  expression,  fiercely  preys  upon  religion, 
as  the  tiger  upon  the  lamb,  to  turn  it  into  a  nature 
most  contrary  to  its  own.  And  shall  this  screen  you 
before  the  great  tribunal  ?  Shall  it  not  rather  awa- 
ken the  displeasure  it  is  pleaded  to  avert  ? 

7.  But  say  that  this  zeal  for  notions  and  forms  has 
been  ever  so  well-intended,  and  so  far  as  it  has  gone, 
ever  so  well-conducted  too ;  what  will  that  avail  to- 


78  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

wards  vindicating  thee  in  so  many  instances  of  neg- 
ligence and  disobedience  as  are  recorded  against 
thee  in  the  book  of  God's  remembrance  ?  Were  the 
revealed  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  to  be  earnestly  main- 
tained, as  indeed  they  ought,  and  was  the  great  prac- 
tical purpose  for  which  they  were  revealed  to  be  for- 
got ?  Was  the  very  mint,  and  anise,  and  cumrnin  to 
be  tithed ;  and  were  "  the  weightier  matters  of  the  law 
to  be  omitted,"  Matt.  23  :  23,  even  that  love  to  God 
which  is  its  "first  and  great  command  ?"  Matthew 
22 : 38.  0  how  wilt  thou  be  able  to  vindicate  even  the 
justest  sentence  thou  hast  passed  on  others  for  their 
infidelity,  or  for  their  disobedience,  without  being  "  con- 
demned out  of  thine  own  mouth  ?"  Luke  19  :  22 

8.  Will  you  then  plead  "your  fair  moral  charac- 
ter, your  works  of  righteousness  and  of  mercy?" 
Had  your  obedience  to  the  law  of  God  been  com- 
plete, the  plea  might  be  allowed  as  important  and 
valid.  But  I  have  supposed,  and  proved  above,  that 
conscience  testifies  to  the  contrary  ;  and  you  will  not 
now  dare  to  contradict  it.  I  add  farther,  had  these 
works  of  yours,  which  you  now  urge,  proceeded  from 
a  sincere  love  to  God,  and  a  genuine  faith  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  you  would  not  have  thought  of 
pleading  them  any  otherwise  than  as  an  evidence  of 
your  interest  in  the  gospel-covenant,  and  in  the 
blessings  of  it,  procured  by  the  righteousness  and 
blood  of  the  Redeemer ;  and  that  faith,  had  it  been 


SINNER   STRIPPED   OF   EXCUSES.  79 

sincere,  would  have  been  attended  with  such  deep 
humility,  and  with  such  solemn  apprehensions  of  the 
divine  holiness  and  glory,  that  instead  of  pleading 
any  works  of  your  own  before  God,  you  would  rather 
have  implored  his  pardon  for  the  mixture  of  sinful 
imperfection  attending  the  very  best  of  them.  Now, 
as  you  are  a  stranger  to  this  humbling  and  sanctify- 
ing principle — which  here  in  this  address  I  suppose 
my  reader  to  be — it  is  absolutely  necessary  you  should 
be  plainly  and  faithfully  told,  that  neither  sobriety, 
nor  honesty,  nor  humanity  will  justify  you  before  the 
tribunal  of  God,  when  he  "  lays  judgment  to  the 
line,  and  righteousness  to  the  plummet,"  Isa.  28 : 17, 
and  examines  all  your  actions,  and  all  your  thoughts 
with  the  strictest  severity.  You  have  not  been  a 
drunkard,  an  adulterer,  or  a  robber.  So  far  it  is 
well.  You  stand  before  a  righteous  God,  who  will 
do  you  ample  justice,  and  therefore  will  not  condemn 
you  for  drunkenness,  adultery,  or  robbery ;  but  you 
have  forgotten  him,  your  Parent  and  your  Benefac- 
tor;  you  have  "cast  off  fear,  and  restrained  prayer 
before  him,"  Job  15:4;  you  have  despised  the  blood 
of  his  Son,  and  all  the  immortal  blessings  that  he 
purchased  with  it.  For  this,  therefore,  you  are  judged 
and  condemned.  And  as  for  any  thing  that  has 
looked  like  virtue  and  humanity  in  your  temper  and 
conduct,  the  exercise  of  it  has  in  great  measure  been 
its  own  reward,  if  there  were  any  thing  more  than 


bO  RISE    AJND    PROGRESS. 

form  and  artifice  in  it ;  and  the  various  bounties  of 
divine  Providence  to  you,  amidst  all  your  numberless 
provocations,  have  been  a  thousand  times  more  than 
an  equivalent  for  such  defective  and  imperfect  vir- 
tues as  these.  You  remain,  therefore,  chargeable 
with  the  guilt  of  a  thousand  offences,  for  which  you 
have  no  excuse,  though  there'  are  some  other  in- 
stances in  which  you  did  not  grossly  offend.  Arid 
those  good  works  in  which  you  have  been  so  ready 
to  trust,  will  no  more  vindicate  you  in  his  awful 
presence,  than  a  man's  kindness  to  his  poor  neigh- 
bors would  be  allowed  as  a  plea  in  arrest  of  judg- 
ment, when  he  stood  convicted  of  high  treason 
against  his  prince. 

9.  But  you  will,  perhaps,  be  ready  to  say,  "  you 
did  not  expect  all  this ;  you  did  not  think  the  conse- 
quences of  neglecting  religion  would  have  been  so 
fatal."  And  why  did  you  not  think  it?  Why  did 
you  not  examine  more  attentively  and  more  impar- 
tially ?  "Why  did  you  suffer  the  pride  and  folly  of 
your  vain  heart  to  take  up  with  such  superficial  ap- 
pearances, and  trust  the  light  suggestions  of  your  own 
prejudiced  mind  against  the  express  declaration  of 
the  word  of  God  ?  Had  you  reflected  on  his  char- 
acter as  the  supreme  Governor  of  the  world,  you 
would  have  seen  the  necessity  of  such  a  day  of  retri- 
bution as  we  are  now  referring  to.  Had  you  regard- 
ed the  Scripture,  the  divine  authority  of  which  you 


SINNER    STRIPPED   OF    EXCUSES.  81 

professed  to  believe,  every  page  might  have  taught 
you  to  expect  it.  "  You  did  not  think  of  religion  !" 
and  of  what  were  you  thinking  when  you  forgot  or 
neglected  it  ?  Had  you  so  much  employment  of  an- 
other kind  ?  Of  what  kind,  I  beseech  you  ?  What 
end  could  you  propose,  by  any  thing  else,  of  equal 
moment  ?  Nay,  with  all  your  engagements,  con- 
science will  tell  you  that  there  have  been  seasons 
when,  for  want  of  thought,  time  and  life  have  been 
a  burden  to  you ;  yet  you  guarded  against  thought 
as  against  an  enemy,  and  cast  up,  as  it  were,  an  en- 
trenchment of  inconsideration  around  you  on  every 
side,  as  if  it  had  been  to  defend  you  from  the  most 
dangerous  invasion.  God  knew  you  were  thought- 
less, and  therefore  he  sent  you  "  line  upon  line,  and 
precept  upon  precept,"  Isa.  28  :  10,  in  such  plain 
language  that  it  needed  no  genius  or  study  to  under- 
stand it.  He  tried  you,  too,  with  afflictions  as  well 
as  with  mercies,  to  awaken  you  out  of  your  fatal 
lethargy ;  and  yet,  when  awakened,  you  would  lie 
down  again  upon  the  bed  of  sloth.  And  now,  pleas- 
ing as  your  dreams  might  be,  "  you  must  lie  down  in 
sorrow."  Isa.  50  : 11.  Reflection  has  at  last  over- 
taken you,  and  must  be  heard  as  a  tormentor,  since 
it  might  not  be  heard  as  a  friend. 

10.  But  some  may  perhaps  imagine  that  one  im- 
portant apology  is  yet  unheard,  and  that  there  may 
be  room  to  say,  "  you  were,  by  the  necessity  of  youi 

Rue  and  Prog.  c 


83  RISE   AND    PROGRESS. 

nature,  impelled  to  those  things  which  are  now 
charged  upon  you  as  crimes  ;  and  that  it  was  not  in 
your  power  to  have  avoided  them,  in  the  circum- 
stances in  which  you  were  placed."  If  this  will  do 
any  thing,  it  indeed  promises  to  do  much — so  much 
that  it  will  amount  to  nothing.  If  I  were  disposed 
to  answer  you  upon  the  folly  and  madness  of  youi 
own  principles,  I  might  say,  that  the  same  considera- 
tion which  proves  it  was  necessary  for  you  to  offend, 
proves  also  that  it  is  necessary  for  God  to  punish 
you ;  and  that,  indeed,  he  cannot  hut  do  it :  and  I 
might  farther  say,  with  an  excellent  writer,  "  that 
the  same  principles  which  destroy  the  injustice  of 
sins,  destroy  the  injustice  of  punishment  too."  But 
if  you  cannot  admit  this,  if  you  should  still  reply,  in 
spite  of  principle,  that  it  must  be  unjust  to  punish 
you  for  an  action  utterly  and  absolutely  unavoidable, 
I  really  think  you  would  answer  right.  But  in  that 
answer  you  will  contradict  your  own  scheme,  as  I 
observed  above  ;  and  I  leave  your  conscience  to 
judge  what  sort  of  a  scheme  that  must  be  which 
would  make  all  kind  of  punishment  unjust ;  for  the 
argument  will  on  the  whole  be  the  same,  whether 
with  regard  to  human  punishment  or  divine.  It  is 
a  scheme  full  of  confusion  and  horror.  You  would 
not,  I  am  sure,  take  it  from  a  servant  who  had 
robbed  you,  and  then  fired  your  house ;  you  would 
never  inwardly  believe  that  he  could  not  have  helped 


SINNER  STRIPPED  OF  EXCUSES.  83 

it,  or  think  that  he  had  fairly  excused  himself  by 
such  a  plea ;  and  I  am  persuaded  you  would  be  so 
far  from  presuming  to  offer  it  to  God  at  the  great 
day,  that  you  would  not  venture  to  turn  it  into  a 
prayer  even  now.  Imagine  that  you  saw  a  male- 
factor dying  with  such  words  as  these  in  his  mouth : 
"  0  God,  it  is  true  I  did  indeed  rob  and  murder  my 
fellow-creatures ;  but  thou  knowest  that,  as  my  cir- 
cumstances were  ordered,  I  could  not  do  otherwise ; 
my  will  was  irresistibly  determined  by  the  motives 
which  thou  didst  set  before  me,  and  I  could  as  well 
have  shaken  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  or  dark- 
ened the  sun  in  the  firmament,  as  have  resisted  the 
impulse  which  bore  me  on."  I  put  it  to  your  con- 
science whether  you  would  not  look  on  such  a  speech 
as  this  with  detestation,  as  one  enormity  added  to 
another.  Yet,  if  the  excuse  would  have  any  weight 
in  your  mouth,  it  would  have  equal  weight  in  his  ;  or 
would  be  equally  applicable  to  any — the  most  shock- 
ing occasions.  But,  indeed,  it  is  so  contrary  to  the 
plainest  principles  of  common  reason,  that  I  can  hardly 
persuade  myself  that  any  one  could  seriously  and 
thoroughly  believe  it ;  and  should  imagine  my  time 
very  ill-employed  here,  if  I  were  to  set  myself  to  com- 
bat those  pretences  to  argument  by  which  the  wanton- 
ness of  human  wit  has  attempted  to  varnish  it  over. 
11.  You  see,  then,  on  the  whole,  the  vanity  of  all 
your  pleas,  and  how  easily  the  most  plausible  of  them 


84  RISE   AND    PROGRESS. 

might  be  silenced  by  a  mortal  man  like  yourself; 
how  much  more,  then,  by  Him  who  searches  all 
hearts,  and  can,  in  a  moment,  flash  in  upon  the  con- 
science a  most  powerful  and  irresistible  conviction  ? 
What  then  can  you  do,  while  you  stand  convicted  in 
the  presence  of  God  ?  What  should  you  do,  but  hold 
your  peace  under  an  inward  sense  of  your  inexcusa- 
ble guilt,  and  prepare  yourself  to  hear  the  sentence 
which  his  law  pronounces  against  you  ?  You  must 
feel  the  execution  of  it,  if  the  Gospel  does  not  at 
length  deliver  you  ;  and  you  must  feel  something  of 
the  terror  of  it  before  you  can  be  excited  to  seek  to 
that  Gospel  for  deliverance. 

THE  MEDITATION   OF  A  CONVINCED   SINNER  GIVING  UP 
HIS  VAIN  PLEAS  BEFORE  GOD. 

"  Deplorable  condition  to  which  I  am  indeed  re- 
duced !  I  have  sinned,  and  *  what  shall  I  say  unto 
thee,  0  thou  Preserver  of  men  ?'  Job  7  :  20.  What 
shall  I  dare  to  say  ?  Fool  that  I  was,  to  amuse 
myself  with  such  trifling  excuses  as  these,  and  to 
imagine  they  could  have  any  weight  in  thy  tremen- 
dous presence,  or  that  I  should  be  able  so  much  as  to 
mention  them  there.  I  cannot  presume  to  do  it.  I 
am  silent  and  confounded :  my  hopes,  alas,  are  slain, 
and  my  soul  itself  is  ready  to  die  too,  so  far  as  an 
immortal  soul  can  die  ;  and  I  am  almost  ready  to 
say,  0  that  it  could  die  entirely  !  I  am  indeed  a 
criminal  in  the  hands  of  justice,  quite  disarmed,  and 


MEDITATION  OF  A  CONVINCED  SINNER.      85 

stripped  of  the  weapons  in  which  I  trusted.  Dis- 
simulation can  only  add  provocation  to  provocation. 
I  will  therefore  plainly  and  freely  own  it.  I  have 
acted  as  if  I  thought  God  was  '  altogether  such  a 
one  as  myself:'  but  he  hath  said,  'I  will  reprove 
thee  ;  I  will  set  thy  sins  in  order  before  thine  eyes,' 
Psalms  50  :  21  ;  will  marshal  them  in  battle  array. 
And  Oh,  what  a  terrible  kind  of  host  do  they  ap- 
pear, and  how  do  they  surround  me  beyond  any  pos- 
sibility of  an  escape.  0  my  soul,  they  have,  as  it 
were,  taken  thee  prisoner,  arid  they  are  bearing  thee 
away  to  the  divine  tribunal. 

"  Thou  must  appear  before  it ;  thou  must  see  the 
awful,  the  eternal  Judge,  who  '  tries  the  very  reins,5 
Jer.  17  :  10,  and  who  needs  no  other  evidence,  foi 
he  has  *  himself  been  witness  to  all  thy  rebellion.' 
Jer.  29  :  23.  Thou  must  see  him,  0  my  soul,  sitting 
in  judgment  upon  thee ;  and,  when  he  is  strict  to 
'mark  iniquity,'  Psalms  130  :  3,  'how  wilt  thou  an- 
swer him  for  one  of  a  thousand  !'  Job  9:3.  And 
if  thou  canst  not  answer  him,  in  what  language  will 
he  speak  to  thee.  Lord,  as  things  at  present  stand, 
I  can  expect  no  other  language  than  that  of  con- 
demnation. And  what  a  condemnation  is  it.  Let 
me  reflect  upon  it.  Let  me  read  my  sentence  before 
I  hear  it  finally  and  irreversibly  passed.  I  know 
he  has  recorded  it  in  his  word,  and  I  know,  in  the 
general,  that  the  representation  is  made  with  a  gra- 


86  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

cious  design.  I  know  that  he  would  have  us  alarm- 
ed, that  we  may  not  be  destroyed.  Speak  to  me, 
therefore,  0  God,  while  thou  speakest  not  for  the 
last  time,  and  in  circumstances  when  thou  wilt  hear 
me  no  more.  Speak  in  the  language  of  effectual 
terror,  so  that  it  be  not  to  speak  me  into  final  despair. 
And  let  thy  word,  however  painful  in  its  operation, 
be  {  quick  and  powerful,  and  sharper  than  any  two- 
edged  sword.'  Heb.  4  :  12.  Let  me  not  vainly 
flatter  myself,  let  me  not  be  left  a  wretched  prey  to 
those  who  would  '  prophesy  smooth  things  to  me,'  Isa. 
30  :  10,  till  I  am  sealed  up  under  wrath,  and  feel 
thy  justice  piercing  my  soul,  and  '  the  poison  of  thine 
arrows  drinking  up  all  my  spirits.'  Job  6  :  4. 

"  Before  I  enter  upon  the  particular  view,  I  know, 
in  the  general,  that  '  it  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  living  God.'  Heb.  10:31.  0  thou 
living  God,  in  one  sense  I  am  already  fallen  into 
thine  hands.  I  am  become  obnoxious  to  thy  dis- 
pleasure, justly  obnoxious  to  it ;  and  whatever  thy 
sentence  may  be,  when  it  comes  forth  from  thy  pres- 
ence, Psalms  17  :  2,  I  must  condemn  myself  and 
justify  thee.  Thou  canst  not  treat  me  with  more 
severity  than  mine  iniquities  have  deserved  ;  and 
how  bitter  soever  that  cup  of  trembling  may  be,  Isa. 
51  :  17,  which  thou  shalt  appoint  for  me,  I  give 
judgment  against  myself,  that  I  deserve  '  to  wring 
out  the  very  dregs  of  it.'  "  Psalms  75  :  8. 


THE  SINNER  SENTENCED.  87 

• 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  SINNER  SENTENCED. 

1,  2.  The  sinner  called  upon  to  hear  his  sentence. — 3.  God's 
law  does  now  in  general  pronounce  a  curse. — 4.  It  pronounces 
death. — 5.  And  being  turned  into  hell. — 6.  The  judgment-day 
shall  come. — 7,  8.  The  solemnity  of  that  grand  process  de- 
scribed according  to  Scriptural  representations  of  it. — 9.  With 
a  particular  illustration  of  the  sentence,  "  Depart,  accursed," 
etc. — 10.  The  execution  will  certainly  and  immediately  fol- 
low.— 11.  The  sinner  warned  to  prepare  for  enduring  it. — The 
reflection  of  a  sinner  struck  with  the  terror  of  his  sentence. 

1.  HEAR,  0  sinner,  and  I  will  speak,  Job  42  :  4, 
yet  once  more,  as  in  the  name  of  God,  of  God  thine 
Almighty  Judge,  who,  if  thou  dost  not  attend  to  his 
servants,  will,  ere  long,  speak  unto  thee  in  a  more 
immediate  manner,  with  an  energy  and  terror  which 
thou  shalt  not  be  able  to  resist. 

2.  Thou  hast  been  convicted,  as  in  his  presence. 
Thy  pleas  have  been  overruled,  or  rather  they  have 
been  silenced.     It  appears  before  God,  it  appears  to 
thine  own  conscience,  that  thou  hast  nothing  more  to 
offer  in  arrest  of  judgment ;  therefore  hear  thy  sen- 
tence, and  summon  up,  if  thou  canst,  all  the  powers 
of  thy  soul  to  bear  the  execution  of  it.     "  It  is,"  in- 
deed, a  very  small  thing  "to  be  judged  of  man's 
judgment ;"  but  "  he  who  now  judge th  thee  is  the 


£8  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

Lord."  1  Cor.  4  :  3,  4.  Hear,  therefore,  and  trem- 
ble, while  I  tell  thee  how  he  will  speak  to  thee  ;  or 
rather,  while  I  show  thee,  from  express  scripture, 
how  he  doth  even  now  speak,  and  what  is  the  au- 
thentic and  recorded  sentence  of  his  word,  even  of 
his  word  who  hath  said,  "  Heaven  and  earth  shall 
pass  away,  but  not  one  tittle  of  my  word  shall  ever 
pass  away."  Matt.  5  :  18. 

3.  The  law  of  God  speaks  not  to  thee  alone,  0  sin- 
ner, nor  to  thee  by  any  particular  address  ;  but  in  a 
most  universal  language  it  speaks  to  all  transgres- 
sors, and  levels  its  terrors  against  all  offences,  great 
or  small,  without  any  exception.  And  this  is  its 
language  :  "  Cursed  is  every  one  that  continueth  not 
in  all  things  which  are  written  in  the  book  of  the 
law  to  do  them."  Gal.  3  :  10.  This  is  its  voice  to 
the  whole  world ;  and  this  it  speaks  to  thee.  Its 
awful  contents  are  thy  personal  concern,  0  reader, 
and  thy  conscience  knows  it.  Far  from  continuing 
in  all  things  that  are  written  therein  to  do  them, 
thou  canst  not  but  be  sensible  that  "innumerable 
evils  have  encompassed  thee  about."  Psalms  40  : 12. 
It  is  then  manifest  thou  art  the  man  whom  it  con- 
demns :  thou  art  even  now  "  cursed  with  a  curse," 
as  God  emphatically  speaks,  Mai.  3:9,  with  the 
curse  of  the  Most  High  God ;  yea,  "  all  the  curses 
which  are  written  in  the  book  of  the  law "  are 
pointed  against  thee.  Deut.  29  :  20.  God  may 


THE  SINNER  SENTENCED.  89 

righteously  execute  any  of  them  upon  thee  in  a  mo- 
ment ;  and  though  thou  at  present  feelest  none  of 
them,  yet,  if  infinite  mercy  do  not  prevent,  it  is  but 
a  little  while  and  they  will  "  come  into  thy  bowels 
like  water,"  till  thou  art  burst  asunder  with  them, 
and  shall  penetrate  "  like  oil  into  thy  bones."  Psalms 
109  :  18. 

4.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  "  The  soul  that  sinneth,  it 
shall  die."     Ezek.  18:4.     But  thou  hast  sinned,  and 
therefore  thou  art  under  a  sentence  of  death.     And 
0,  unhappy  creature,  of  what  a  death  !     What  will 
the  end  of  these  things  be  ?     That  the  agonies  of 
dissolving  nature  shall  seize  thee,  and  thy  soul  shall 
be  torn  away  from  thy  languishing  body,  and  thou 
shalt  return  to  the  dust  from  which  thou  wast  taken. 
Psalms  104  :  29.     This  is  indeed  one  awful  effect  of 
sin.     In  these  affecting  characters  has  God,  through 
all  nations  and  all  ages  of  men,  written  the  awful 
register  and  memorial  of  his  holy  abhorrence  of  it, 
and  righteous  displeasure  against  it.     But,  alas,  all 
this  solemn  pomp  and  horror  of  dying  is  but  the 
opening  of  the  dreadful  scene.     It  is  a  rough  kind  of 
stroke,  by  which  the  fetters  are  knocked  off  when 
the  criminal  is  led  out  to  torture  and  execution. 

5.  Thus  saith   the  Lord,  "The  wicked  shall  be 
turned  into  hell,  even  all   the  nations  that  forget 
God."     Psalms   9  :  17.      Though   there   be  whole 
nations  of  them,  their  multitudes  and  their  power 


90  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

shall  be  no  defence  to  them.  •  They  shall  be  driven 
into  hell  together — into  that  flaming  prison  which 
divine  vengeance  hath  prepared — into  "  Tophet, 
which  is  ordained  of  old,  even  for  royal  sinners,"  as 
well  as  for  others ;  so  little  can  any  human  distinc- 
tion protect.  "  He  hath  made  it  deep  and  large : 
the  pile  thereof  is  fire  and  much  wood  ;  the  breath 
of  the  Lord,  like  a  stream  of  brimstone,  shall  kindle 
it,"  Isa.  30  :  33  ;  and  the  flaming  torrent  shall  flow 
in  upon  it  so  fast,  that  it  shall  be  turned  into  a  sea 
of  liquid  fire ;  or,  as  the  Scripture  also  expresses  it, 
"  a  lake  burning  with  fire  and  brimstone  "  for  ever. 
Rev.  21  :  8.  "This  is  the  second  death,"  and  the 
death  to  which  thou,  0  sinner,  by  the  word  of  God 
art  doomed. 

6.  And  shall  this  sentence  stand  upon  record  in 
vain  ?  Shall  the  law  speak  it,  and  the  gospel  speak 
it ;  and  shall  it  never  be  pronounced  more  audibly ; 
and  will  God  never  require  and  execute  the  punish- 
ment ?  He  will,  0  sinner,  require  it ;  and  he  will 
execute  it,  though  he  may  seem  for  a  while  to  delay. 
For  well  dost  thou  know  that  "  he  hath  appointed 
a  day  in  which  he  will  judge  the  "  whole  "  world  in 
righteousness,  by  that  Man  whom  he  hath  ordained, 
of  which  he  hath  given  assurance  in  having  raised 
him  from  the  dead."  Acts  17  :  31.  And  when  God 
judgeth  the  world,  0  reader,  whoever  thou  art,  he 
will  judge  thee.  And  while  I  remind  thee  of  it,  T 


JUDGMENT-DAY  WILL  COME.  9] 

"would  also  remember  that  lie  will  judge  me.  And 
"knowing  the  terror  of  the  Lord,"  2  Cor.  5:11. 
that  I  may  "  deliver  my  own  soul,"  Ezek.  33  :  9,  1 
would,  with  all  plainness  and  sincerity,  labor  to  de- 
liver thine. 

7.  I  therefore  repeat  the  solemn  warning :  Thou, 
0  sinner,  shalt  "  stand  before  the  judgment-seat  of 
Christ."     2  Cor.  5  :  10.     Thou  shalt  see  that  pom- 
pous appearance,  the  description  of  which  is  grown  so 
familiar  to  thee  that  the  repetition  of  it  makes  no 
impression  on  thy  mind.     But  surely,. stupid  as  thou 
now  art,  the  shrill  trumpet  of  the  archangel  shall 
shake  thy  very  soul ;  and  if  nothing  else  can  awaken 
and  alarm  thee,  the  convulsions  and  flames  of  a  dis- 
solving world  shall  do  it. 

8.  Dost  thou  really  think  that  the  intent  of  Christ's 
final  appearance  is  only  to  recover  his  people  from 
the  grave,  and  to  raise  them  to  glory  and  happiness  ? 
Whatever  assurance  thou  hast  that  there  shall  be  "  a 
resurrection  of  the  just,"  thou  hast  the  same  that 
there  shall  also  be  "  a  resurrection  of  the  unjust," 
Acts  24  :  15;  that  "  he  shall  separate"  the  rising 
dead  "  one  from  another,  as  a  shepherd  divideth  the 
eheep  from  the  goats,"  Matt.  25  :  32,  with  equal 
certainty,  and  with  infinitely  greater  ease.     Or  can 
you  imagine  that  he  will  only  make  an  example  of 
some  flagrant  and  notorious  sinners,  when  it  is  said 
that  "  all  the  dead,"  both  "  small  and  great,"  shall 


92  RISE  AND   PROGRESS. 

"  stand  before  God,"  Rev.  20  :  12;  and  that  even 
"he  who  knew  not  his  Master's  will,"  and  conse- 
quently seems  of  all  others  to  have  had  the  fairest 
excuse  for  his  omission  to  obey  it,  yet  even  "  he,"  for 
that  very  omission,  "  shall  be  beaten,"  though  "  with 
fewer  stripes?"  Luke  12  :  48.  Or  can  you  think 
that  a  sentence,  to  be  delivered  with  so  much  pomp 
and  majesty,  a  sentence  by  which  the  righteous 
judgment  of  God  is  to  be  revealed,  and  to  have  its 
most  conspicuous  and  final  triumph,  will  be  incon- 
siderable, or  the  punishment  to  which  it  shall  con- 
sign the  sinner  be  slight  or  tolerable  ?  There  would 
have  been  little  reason  to  apprehend  that,  even  if  we 
had  been  left  barely  to  our  own  conjectures  what 
that  sentence  should  be.  But  this  is  far  from  being 
the  case  :  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  his  infinite  con- 
descension and  compassion,  has  been  pleased  to  give 
us  a  copy  of  the  sentence,  and  no  doubt  a  most  exact 
copy  ;  and  the  words  which  contain  it  are  worthy  of 
being  inscribed  on  every  heart.  "  The  King,"  amidst 
all  the  splendor  and  dignity  in  which  he  shall  then 
appear,  "  shall  say  unto  those  on  his  right  hand, 
Come,  ye  blessed  of  rny  Father,  inherit  the  king- 
dom prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world."  Matt.  25  :  34.  And  "where  the  word  of  a 
king  is,  there  is  power  "  indeed.  Eccles.  8:4.  And 
these  words  have  a  power  which  may  justly  animate 
the  heart  of  the  humble  Christian  under  the  most 


JUDGMENT-DAY  AWFUL.  93 

overwhelming  sorrow,  and  may  fill  him  "  with  joy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory."  1  Peter,  1:8.  To 
be  pronounced  the  blessed  of  the  Lord,  to  be  called 
to  a  kingdom,  to  the  immediate,  the  everlasting  in- 
heritance of  it ;  and  of  such  a  kingdom,  so  well  pre- 
pared, so  glorious,  so  complete,  so  exquisitely  fitted 
for  the  delight  and  entertainment  of  such  creatures, 
so  formed  and  so  renewed  that  it  shall  appear  wor- 
thy the  eternal  counsels  of  God  to  have  contrived  it, 
worthy  his  eternal  love  to  have  prepared  it,  and  to 
have  delighted  himself  with  the  views  of  bestowing 
it  upon  his  people  :  behold  a  blessed  hope  indeed,  a 
lively,  glorious  hope,  to  which  we  are  "  begotten 
again  by  the  resurrection  of  Christ  from  the  dead," 
1  Pet.  1:3,  and  formed  by  the  sanctifying  influence 
of  the  Spirit  of  God  upon  our  minds.  But  it  is  a  hope 
from  which  thou,  0  sinner,  art  at  present  excluded ; 
and  methinks  that  it  might  be  grievous  to  reflect, 
"  These  gracious  words  shall  Christ  speak  to  some, 
to  multitudes — but  not  to  me ;  on  me  there  is  no 
blessedness  pronounced  ;  for  me-  there  is  no  kingdom 
prepared."  But  is  that  all  ?  Alas,  sinner,  our  Lord 
hath  given  thee  a  dreadful  counterpart  to  this.  He 
has  told  us  what  he  will  say  to  thee,  if  thou  con- 
tinuest  what  thou  art — to  thee,  and  all  the  nations 
of  the  impenitent  and  unbelieving  world,  be  they 
ever  so  numerous,  be  the  rank  of  particular  criminals 
ever  so  great.  He  shall  say  to  the  "  kings  of  the 


/ 
94  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

earth  "  who  have  been  rebels  against  him,  to  u  the 
great  and  rich  men,  and  the  chief  captains  and  the 
mighty  men,"  as  well  as  to  "  every  bondman  and 
every  freeman"  of  inferior  rank,  Rev.  6  :  15,  "  De- 
part from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  pre- 
pared for  the  devil  and  his  angels."  Matt.  25  :  41. 
Oh,  pause  upon  these  weighty  words,  that  thou 
mayest  enter  into  something  of  the  importance  of 
them. 

9.  He  will  say,  " Depart;"  you  shall  be  driven 
from  his  presence  with  disgrace  and  infamy  ;  "  from 
him,"  the  source  of  life  and  blessedness,  in  a  near- 
ness to  whom  all  the  inhabitants  of  heaven  continu- 
ally rejoice  ;  you  shall  "depart,"  accursed  ;  you  have 
broken  God's  law,  and  its  curse  falls  upon  you  ;  and 
you  are,  and  shall  be  under  that  curse,  that  abiding 
curse  ;  from  that  day  forward  you  shall  be  regarded 
by  God,  and  all  his  creatures,  as  an  accursed  and 
abominable  thing,  as  the  most  detestable  and  the 
most  miserable  part  of  the  creation.  You  shall  go 
"into  fire;"  and  0,  consider  into  what  fire!  Is  it 
merely  into  one  fierce  blaze  which  shall  consume 
you  in  a  moment,  though  with  exquisite  pain  ? 
That  were  terrible.  But  0,  such  terrors  are  not  to 
be  named  with  these.  Thine,  sinner,  "is  everlasting 
fire."  It  is  that  which  our  Lord  hath  in  such  awful 
terms  described  as  prevailing  there,  "  where  their 
worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched ;"  and 


ILLUSTRATION  OF  THE  SENTENCE.     95 

again,  in  wonderful  compassion,  a  third  time,  "where 
their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched." 
Mark  9  :  44,  46,  48.  Nor  was  it  originally  prepared 
or  principally  intended  for  you ;  it  was  "  prepared 
for  the  devil  and  his  angels ;"  for  those  first  grand 
rebels  who  were,  immediately  upon  their  fall,  doomed 
to  it ;  and  since  you  have  taken  part  with  them  in 
their  apostasy,  you  must  sink  with  them  into  that 
flaming  ruin,  and  sink  so  much  the  deeper,  as  you 
have  despised  the  Saviour,  who  was  never  offered  to 
them.  These  must  be  your  companions  and  youi 
tormentors,  with  whom  you  must  dwell  for  ever. 
And  is  it  I  that  say  this  ;  or  say  not  the  law  and  the 
gospel  the  same  ?  Does  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
expressly  say  it,  who  is  the  "  faithful  and  true  wit- 
ness," Rev.  3  :  14,  even  he  who  himself  is  to  pro- 
nounce the  sentence  ? 

10.  And  when  it  is  thus  pronounced,  and  pro- 
nounced by  him,  shall  it  not  also  be  executed  ?  "Who 
could  imagine  the  contrary?  Who  could  imagine 
there  should  be  all  this  pompous  declaration  to  fill 
the  mind  only  with  vain  terror,  and  that  this  sen- 
tence should  vanish  into  smoke  ?  You  may  easily 
apprehend  that  this  would  be  a  greater  reproach  to 
the  divine  administration  than  if  sentence  were  never 
to  be  passed.  And  therefore  we  might  easily  have 
inferred  the  execution  of  it,  from  the  process  of  the 
preceding  judgment.  But  lest  the  treacherous  heart 


96  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

of  a  sinner  should  deceive  him  with  so  vain  a  hope> 
the  assurance  of  that  execution  is  immediately  added 
in  very  memorable  terms.  It  shall  be  done — it  shall 
immediately  be  done.  Then,  on  that  very  day,  while 
the  sound  of  it  is  yet  in  their  ears,  "  the  wicked  shall 
go  away  into  everlasting  punishment,"  Matt.  25  : 4  6 ; 
and  thou,  0  reader,  whoever  thou  art,  being  found 
in  their  number,  shalt  go  away  with  them  ;  shait  be 
driven  on  among  all  these  wretched  multitudes,  and 
plunged  with  them  into  eternal  ruin.  The  wide 
gates  of  hell  shall  be  open  to  receive  thee  ;  they 
shall  be  shut  upon  thee  for  ever,  to  enclose  thee,  and 
be  fast  barred  by  the  Almighty  hand  of  divine 
justice,  to  prevent  all  hope,  all  possibility  of  escape 
for  ever. 

11.  And  now  "prepare"  thyself  "to  meet  the 
Lord  thy  God."  Amos  4:12.  Summon  up  all  the 
resolution  of  thy  mind  to  endure  such  a  sentence, 
such  an  execution  as  this ;  for  "  he  will  not  meet 
thee  as  a  man,"  Isaiah  47  :  30,  whose  heart  may 
sometimes  fail  him  when  about  to  exert  a  needful 
act  of  severity,  so  that  compassion  may  prevail 
against  reason  and  justice.  No,  he  will  meet  thee 
as  a  God,  whose  schemes  and  purposes  are  all  im- 
movable as  his  throne.  I  therefore  testify  to  thee  in 
his  name  this  day,  that  if  God  be  true,  he  will  thus 
speak  ;  and  that  if  he  be  able,  he  will  thus  act.  And 
on  supposition  of  thy  continuance  in  thine  impeni- 


REFLECTION   OF   THE   SINNER.  97 

tence  and  unbelief,  thou  art  brought  into  this  mis- 
rable  case,  that  if  God  be  not  either  false  or  weak, 
thou  art  undone — thou  art  eternally  undone. 

THE    REFLECTION    OF    A    SINNER    STRUCK    WITH    THE 
TERROR  OF  HIS  SENTENCE. 

"  Wretch  that  I  am  !  What  shall  I  do,  or  whither 
shall  I  flee  ?  'I  am  weighed  in  the  balance,  and  am 
found  wanting.'  Dan.  5  :  27.  This  is  indeed  my 
doom ;  the  doom  I  am  to  expect  from  the  mouth  of 
Christ  himself,  from  the  mouth  of  him  that  died  for 
the  redemption  and  salvation  of  men.  Dreadful  sen- 
tence !  and  so  much  the  more  dreadful  when  consid- 
ered in  that  view.  To  what  shall  I  look  to  save  me 
from  it  ?  To  whom  shall  I  call  ?  Shall  I  say,  '  to 
the  rocks,  fall  upon  me,  and  to  the  hills,  cover  me  ?' 
Luke  23  :  30.  What  should  I  gain  by  that  ?  Were 
I  indeed  overwhelmed  with  rocks  and  mountains, 
they  could  not  conceal  me  from  the  notice  of  his 
eye  ;  and  his  hand  could  reach  me  with  as  much 
ease  there  as  anywhere  else. 

"  Wretch,  indeed,  that  I  am  !  0  that  I  had  never 
been  born  !  0  that  I  had  never  known  the  dignity 
and  prerogative  of  the  rational  nature  !  Fatal  pre- 
rogative, indeed,  that  renders  me  obnoxious  to  con- 
demnation and  wrath  !  0  that  I  had  never  been  in- 
structed in  the  will  of  God  at  all,  rather  than  that, 
being  thus  instructed,  I  should  have  disregarded  and 

Rise  and  Frog.  7 


98  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

transgressed  it !  Would  to  God  I  had  been  allied  to 
the  meanest  of  the  human  race,  to  them  that  come 
nearest  to  the  state  of  the  brutes,  rather  than  that  I 
should  have  had  my  lot  in  cultivated  life,  amidst  so 
many  of  the  improvements  of  reason,  and — dreadful 
reflection — amidst  so  many  of  the  advantages  of  re- 
ligion too,  and  thus  to  have  perverted  all  to  my  own 
destruction  !  0  that  God  would  take  away  this 
rational  soul ;  but  alas,  it  will  live  for  ever,  will  live 
to  feel  the  agonies  of  eternal  death.  Why  have  I 
seen  the  beauties  and  glories  of  a  world  like  this,  to 
exchange  it  for  that  flaming  prison  ?  Why  have  I 
tasted  so  many  of  my  Creator's  bounties,  to  wring 
out  at  last  the  dregs  of  his  wrath  ?  Why  have  I 
known  the  delights  of  social  life  and  friendly  con- 
verse, to  exchange  them  for  the  horrid  company  of 
devils  and  damned  spirits  in  hell  ?  Oh,  '  who  can 
dwell '  with  them  in  '  devouring  flames ;  who  can 
lie  down'  with  them  'in  everlasting,  everlasting, 
everlasting  burnings  ?'  Isa.  33  :  14. 

"  But  whom  have  I  to  blame  in  all  this  but  my- 
self? What  have  I  to  accuse  but  my  own  stupid, 
incorrigible  folly  ?  On  what  is  all  this  terrible  ruin 
to  be  charged,  but  on  this  one  fatal,  cursed  cause, 
that  having  broken  God's  law,  I  rejected  his  gospel 
too? 

"  Yet  stay,  0  my  soul,  in  the  midst  of  all  these 
doleful,  foreboding  complaints.  Can  I  say  that  I 


REFLECTION    OF  THE  SINNER.  99 

have  finally  rejected  the  Gospel  ?  Am  I  not  to  this 
day  under  the  sound  of  it  ?  The  sentence  is  not  yet 
gone  forth  against  me  in  so  determinate  a  manner  as 
to  be  utterly  irreversible  Through  all  this  gloomy 
prospect  one  ray  of  hope  breaks  in,  and  it  is  possible 
I  may  yet  be  delivered. 

"  Reviving  thought !  Rejoice  in  it,  0  my  soul, 
though  it  be  with  trembling,  and  turn  immediately 
to  that  God,  who,  though  provoked  by  ten  thousand 
offences,  has  not  yet  '  sworn  in  his  wrath  that  thou 
shalt  never '  be  permitted  to  hold  further  intercourse 
with  him,  or  to  'enter  into  his  rest.'  Psalm  95  : 11. 

"I  do,  then,  0  blessed  Lord,  prostrate  myself  in 
the  dust  before  thee.  I  own  I  am  a  condemned  and 
miserable  creature.  But  my  language  is  that  of  tho 
humble  publican,  '  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner !' 
Luke  18  : 13.  Some  general  and  confused  apprehen- 
sions I  have  of  a  way  by  which  I  may  possibly 
escape.  0  God,  whatever  that  way  is,  show  it  me, 
I  beseech  thee.  Point  it  out  so  plainly  that  I  may 
not  be  able  to  mistake  it.  And  0,  reconcile  my 
heart  to  it,  be  it  ever  so  humbling,  be  it  ever  so 
painful. 

"  Surely,  Lord,  I  have  much  to  learn ;  but  be  thou 
my  teacher.  Stay,  for  a  little  moment,  thine  up- 
lifted hand,  and  in  thine  infinite  compassion  delay 
the  stroke  till  I  inquire  a  little  farther  how  I  may 
finally  avoid  it." 


100  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   HELPLESS    STATE   OF    THE    SINNER    UNDER 
CONDEMNATION. 

1,  2.  The  sinner  urged  to  consider  how  he  can  be  saved  from 
this  impending  ruin. — 3.  Not  by  any  thing  he  can  offer. — 4. 
Nor  by  any  thing  he  can  endure. — 5.  Nor  by  any  thing  he  can 
do  in  the  course  of  future  duty. — 6-8.  Nor  by  any  alliance  with 
fellow-sinners  on  earth  or  in  hell. — 9.  Nor  by  any  interposi- 
tion or  intercession  of  angels  or  saints  in  his  favor.  Hint  of 
the  only  method,  to  be  afterwards  more  largely  explained. 
The  lamentation  of  a  sinner  in  this  miserable  condition. 

1.  SINNER,  thou  hast  heard  the  sentence  of  God 
as  it  stands  upon  record  in  his  sacred  and  immuta- 
ble word ;  and  wilt  thou  lie  down  under  it  in  ever- 
lasting despair  ?  "Wilt  thou  make  no  attempt  to  be 
delivered  from  it,  when  it  speaks  nothing  less  than 
eternal  death  to  thy  soul  ?  If  a  criminal,  condemned 
by  human  laws,  has  but  the  least  shadow  of  hope 
that  he  may  escape,  he  is  all  attention  to  it.  If  there 
be  a  friend  who  he  thinks  can  help  him,  with  what 
strong  importunity  does  he  entreat  the  interposition 
of  that  friend  ?  And  even  while  he  is  before  the 
judge,  how  difficult  is  it  often  to  force  him  away  from 
the  bar,  while  the  cry  of  mercy,  mercy,  mercy,  may 
be  heard,  though  it  be  ever  so  unseasonable  ?  A 
mere  possibility  that  it  may  make  some  impression, 


SINNER'S    HELPLESS  STATE.  101 

makes  him  eager  in  it,  and  unwilling  to  be  silenced 
or  removed. 

2.  Wilt  thou  not  then,  0  sinner,  ere  yet  execution 
is  done,  that  execution  which  may  perhaps  be  done 
this  very  day,  wilt  thou  not  cast  about  in  thy  thoughts 
what  measures  may  be  taken  for  deliverance  ?     Yet 
wrhat  measures  can  be  taken  ?     Consider  attentively, 
for  it   is  an  affair  of  moment.     Thy  wisdom,  thy 
power,  thy  eloquence,  thy  interest  can  never  be  ex- 
erted on  a  greater  occasion.     If  thou  canst  help  thy- 
self, do  it.     If  thou  hast  any  secret  source  of  relief, 
go  not  out  of  thyself  for  other  assistance.     If  thou 
hast  any  sacrifice  to  offer,  if  thou  hast  any  strength 
to  exert,  yea,  if  thou  hast  any  allies  on  earth,  or  in 
the  invisible  world,  who  can  defend  or  deliver  thee, 
take  thy  own  way,  so  that  thou  mayest  but  be  de- 
livered at  all,  that  we  may  not  see  thy  ruin.     But 
say,  0  sinner,  in  the  presence  of  God,  what  sacrifice 
thou  wilt  present,  what  strength  thou  wilt  exert, 
what  allies  thou  wilt  have  recourse  to  on  so  urgent, 
so  hopeless  an  occasion.     For  hopeless  I  must  indeed 
pronounce  it,  if  such  methods  are  taken. 

3.  The  justice  of  God  is  injured ;  hast  thou  any 
atonement  to  make  to  it  ?     If  thou  wast  brought  to 
an  inquiry  and  proposal,  like  that  of  an  awakened 
sinner,  "  Wherewith  shall  I  come  before  the  Lord, 
and  bow  myself  before  the  high  God  ?    Shall  I  come 
before  him  with  burnt- offerings,  with    calves  of  a 


102  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

yeat  old  ?  "Will  the  Lord  be  pleased  with  thousands 
of  rams,  or  with  ten  thousands  of  rivers  of  oil  ?" 
Mic.  6  :  6,  7.  Alas,  wert  thou  as  great  a  prince  as 
Solomon  himself,  and  couldst  thou  indeed  purchase 
such  sacrifices  as  these,  there  would  he  no  room  to 
mention  them.  "  Lebanon  would  not  be  sufficient  to 
burn,  nor  all  the  beasts  thereof  for  a  burnt-offering." 
Isa.  40  :  16.  Even  under  that  dispensation  which 
admitted  and  required  sacrifices  in  some  cases,  the 
blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats,  though  it  exempted  the 
offender  from  farther  temporal  punishment,  "  could 
not  take  away  sin,"  Heb.  10:4,  nor  prevail  by  any 
means  to  purge  the  conscience  in  the  sight  of  God. 
And  that  soul  that  had  "  done  aught  presumptu- 
ously" was  not  allowed  to  bring  any  sin-offering,  or 
trespass-offering  at  all,  but  was  condemned  to  "  die 
without  mercy."  Numb.  15  :  30.  Now  God  and 
thine  own  conscience  know  that  thine  offences  have 
not  been  merely  the  errors  of  ignorance  and  inadver- 
tency, but  that  thou  hast  sinned  with  a  high  hand 
in  repeated  aggravated  instances,  as  thou  hast  ac- 
knowledged already.  Shouldst  thou  add,  with  the 
wretched  sinner  described  above,  "  Shall  I  give  my 
first-born  for  my  transgression,  the  fruit  of  my  body 
for  the  sin  of  my  soul  ?"  Mic.  6:7.  What  could 
the  blood  of  a  beloved  child  do  in  such  a  case,  but 
dye  thy  crimes  so  much  the  deeper,  and  add  a  yet 
unknown  horror  to  them  ?  Thou  hast  offended  a 


SINNER'S   HELPLESS   STATE.  103 

Being  of  infinite  majesty ;  and  if  that  offence  is  to 
be  expiated  by  blood,  it  must  be  another  kind  of 
blood  than  that  which  flows  in  the  veins  of  thy  chil- 
dren, or  in  thine  own. 

4.  Wilt  thou  then  suffer  thyself  till  thou  hast 
made  full  satisfaction  ?  But  how  shall  that  satisfac- 
tion be  made  ?  Shall  it  be  by  any  calamities  to  be 
endured  in  this  mortal,  momentary  life  ?  Is  the  jus- 
tice of  God  then  esteemed  so  little  a  thing,  that  the 
Borrows  of  a  few  days  should  suffice  to  answer  its 
demands  ?  Or  dost  thou  think  of  future  sufferings 
in  the  invisible  world  ?  If  thou  dost,  that  is  not  de- 
liverance ;  and  with  regard  to  that,  I  may  venture 
to  say,  when  thou  hast  made  full  satisfaction,  thou 
wilt  be  released ;  when  thou  hast  paid  the  utter- 
most farthing  of  that  debt,  thy  prison-doors  shall  be 
opened  ;  but  in  the  meantime  thou  must  "  make  thy 
bed  in  hell,"  Psalm  139  :  8  ;  and  0,  unhappy  man, 
wilt  thou  lie  down  there  with  a  secret  hope  that  the 
moment  will  come  when  the  rigor  of  divine  justice 
will  not  be  able  to  inflict  any  thing  more  than  thou 
hast  endured,  and  when  thou  mayest  claim  thy  dis- 
charge as  a  matter  of  right  ?  It  would  indeed  be 
well  for  thee,  if  thou  couldst  carry  down  with  thee 
such  a  hope,  false  and  flattering  as  it  is ;  but  alas, 
thou  wilt  see  things  in  so  just  a  light,  that  to  have 
no  comfort  but  this  will  be  eternal  despair.  That 
one  word  of  thy  sentence,  "  everlasting  fire  " — that 


1.01  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

one  declaration,  "  the  worm  dietli  not,  and  the  fire 
is  not  quenched,"  will  be  sufficient  to  strike  such  a 
thought  into  black  confusion,  and  to  overwhelm  thee 
with  hopeless  agony  and  horror. 

5.  Or  do  you  think  that  your  future  reformation 
and  diligence  in  duty  for  the  time  to  come  will  pro- 
cure your  discharge  from  this  sentence  ?    Take  heed, 
sinner,  what  kind  of  obedience  thou  thinkest  of  offer- 
ing to  a  holy  God.     That  must  be  spotless  and  com- 
plete which  his  infinite  sanctity  can  approve  and  ac- 
cept, if  he  consider  thee  in  thyself  alone  ;  there  must 
be  no  inconstancy,  no  forgetfulness,  no  mixture  of  sin 
attending  it.     And  wilt  thou,  enfeebled  as  thou  art 
by  so  much  original  corruption,  and  so  many  sinful 
habits  contracted  by  innumerable  actual  transgres- 
sions, undertake  to  render  such  an  obedience,  and 
that  for  all  the  remainder  of  thy  life  ?     In  vain 
wouldst  thou  attempt  it,  even  for  one  day.     New 
guilt  would  immediately  plunge  thee  into  new  ruin. 
But  if  it  did  not,  if  from  this  moment  to  the  very  end 
of  thy  life,  all  were  as  complete  obedience  as  the  law 
of  God  required  from  Adam  in  Paradise,  would  that 
be  sufficient  to  cancel  past  guilt  ?     Would  it  dis- 
charge an  old  debt,  that  thou  hast  not  contracted  a 
new  one  ?     Offer  this  to  thy  neighbor,  and  see  if  he 
will  accept  it  for  payment ;  and  if  he  will  not,  wilt 
thou  presume  to  offer  it  to  thy  God  ? 

6.  But  I  will  not  multiply  words  on  so  plain  a 


SINNER'S  HELPLESS  STATE.  105 

subject.  While  I  speak  thus,  time  is  passing  away, 
death,  presses  on,  and  judgment  is  approaching.  And 
what  can  save  thee  from  these  awful  scenes,  or  what 
can  protect  thee  in  them  ?  C  an  the  world  save  thee — • 
that  vain  delusive  idol  of  thy  wishes  and  pursuits,  to 
which  thou  art  sacrificing  thine  eternal  hopes  ?  Well 
dost  thou  know  that  it  will  utterly  forsake  thee  when 
thou  needest  it  most ;  and  that  not  one  of  its  enjoy- 
ments can  be  carried  along  with  thee  into  the  invisible 
state,  no,  not  so  much  as  a  trifle  to  remember  it  by, 
if  thou  couldst  desire  to  remember  so  inconstant  and 
so  treacherous  a  friend  as  the  world  has  been. 

7.  And  when  you  are  dead,  or  when  you  are  dy- 
ing, can  your  sinful  companions  save  you  ?    Is  there 
any  one  of  them,  if  he  were  ever  so  desirous  of  doing 
it,  that  "  can  give  unto  God  a  ransom  for  you,"  Psa. 
49  :  7,  to  deliver  you  from  going  down  to  the  grave, 
or  from  going  down  to  hell  ?     Alas,  you  will  proba- 
bly be  so  sensible  of  this,  that  when  you  lie  on  the 
borders  of  the  grave,  you  will  be  unwilling  to  see  or 
to  converse  with  those  that  were  once  your  favorite 
companions.     They  will  afflict  you.  rather  than  re- 
lieve you,  even  then ;  how  much  less  can  they  relieve 
you  before  the  bar  of  God,  when  they  are  over- 
whelmed with  their  own  condemnation  ? 

8.  As  for  the  powers  of  darkness,  you  are  sure 
they  will  be  far  from  having  any  ability  or  inclina- 
tion to  help  you.     Satan  has  been  watching  and  la- 


106  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

boring  for  your  destruction,  and  he  will  triumph  in 
it.  But  if  there  could  be  any  thing  of  an  amicable 
confederacy  between  you,  what  would  that  be  but 
an  association  in  ruin  ?  For  the  day  of  judgment  of 
ungodly  men  will  also  be  the  judgment  of  these  re- 
bellious spirits  ;  and  the  fire  into  which  thou,  0  sin- 
ner, must  depart,  is  that  which  was  "  prepared  for 
the  devil  and  his  angels."  Matt.  20  :  41. 

9.  Will  the  celestial  spirits  then  save  thee  ?  "Will 
they  interpose  their  power  or  their  prayers  in  thy 
favor  ?  An  interposition  of  power,  when  sentence  is 
gone  forth  against  thee,  were  an  act  of  rebellion 
against  heaven,  which  these  holy  and  excellent  crea- 
tures would  abhor.  And  when  the  final  pleasure  of 
the  Judge  is  known,  instead  of  interceding  in  vain 
for  the  wretched  criminal,  they  would  rather,  with 
ardent  zeal  for  the  glory  of  their  Lord,  and  cordial 
acquiescence  in  the  determination  of  his  wisdom  and 
justice,  prepare  to  execute  it.  Yea,  difficult  as  it 
may  at  present  be  to  conceive  it,  it  is  a  certain  truth, 
that  the  servants  of  Christ,  who  now  most  tenderly 
love  you,  and  most  affectionately  seek  your  salvation, 
not  excepting  those  who  are  allied  to  you  in  the 
nearest  bonds  of  nature  or  of  friendship,  even  they 
shall  put  their  amen  to  it.  Now,  indeed,  their  bow- 
els yearn  over  you,  and  their  eyes  pour  out  tears  on 
your  account.  Now,  they  expostulate  with  you,  and 
plead  with  God  for  you,  if  by  any  means,  while  yet 


SINNER'S  LAMENTATION.  10? 

there  is  hope,  you  may  "  be  plucked  as  a  firebrand 
out  of  the  burning."  Amos  4:11.  But  alas,  their 
remonstrances  you  will  not  regard  ;  and  as  for  their 
prayers,  what  should  they  ask  for  you  ?  "What  but 
that  you  may  see  yourself  to  be  undone ;  and  that, 
utterly  despairing  of  any  help  from  yourself,  or  from 
any  created  power,  you  may  lie  before  God  in  humil- 
ity and  brokenness  of  heart ;  that,  submitting  your- 
self to  his  righteous  judgment,  and  in  an  utter  renun- 
ciation of  all  self-dependence  and  of  all  creature  de- 
pendence, you  may  lift  up  an  humble  look  towards 
him,  as  almost  from  the  depths  of  hell,  if  peradven- 
ture  he  may  have  compassion  upon  you,  and  may 
himself  direct  you  to  that  only  method  of  rescue, 
which,  while  things  continue  as  in  present  circum- 
stances they  are,  neither  earth,  nor  hell,  nor  heaven 
can  afford  you. 

THE  LAMENTATION  OF  A  SINNER  IN  THIS  MISERABLE 
CONDITION. 

"  0  doleful,  uncomfortable,  helpless  state  !  0 
wretch  that  I  am,  to  have  reduced  myself  to  it ! 
Poor,  empty,  miserable,  abandoned  creature !  Where 
is  my  pride  and  the  haughtiness  of  my  heart  ?  "Where 
are  my  idol  deities,  c  whom  I  have  loved  and  served, 
after  whom  I  have  walked,  and  whom  I  have 
sought,'  Jer.  8  :  2,  while  I  have  been  multiplying 
my  transgressions  against  the  majesty  of  heaven? 
Is  there  no  heart  to  have  compassion  upon  me  ?  Is 


J08  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

there  no  hand  to  save  me  ?  '  Have  pity  upon  me, 
have  pity  upon  me,  0  my  friends,  for  the  hand  of 
God  hath  touched  me/  Job  19  :  21,  hath  seized 
me.  I  feel  it  pressed  upon  me  hard,  and  what  shall 

1  do  ?     Perhaps  they  have  pity  upon  me  ;  hut  alas, 
how  feeble  a  compassion.      Only,  if  there  be  any- 
where in  the  whole  compass  of  nature  any  help,  tell 
me  where  it  may  be  found.     0  point  it  out,  direct  me 
towards  it ;  or  rather,  confounded  and  astonished  as 
my  mind  is,  take  me  by  the  hand  and  lead  me  to  it. 

"  0  ye  ministers  of  the  Lord,  whose  office  it  is  to 
guide  and  comfort  distressed  souls,  take  pity  upon 
me.  I  fear  I  am  a  pattern  of  many  other  helpless 
creatures  who  have  the  like  need  of  your  assistance. 
Lay  aside  your  other  cares  to  care  for  my  soul,  to 
care  for  this  precious  soul  of  mine,  which  lies  as  it 
were  bleeding  to  death — if  that  expression  may  be 
used — while  you  perhaps  hardly  afford  me  a  look, 
or,  glancing  an  eye  upon  me,  *  pass  over  to  the  other 
side.'  Luke  10  : 32.  Yet,  alas,  in  a  case  like  mine, 
what  can  your  interposition  avail  if  it  be  alone  ?  '  If 
the  Lord  do  not  help  me,  how  can  you  help  me?' 

2  Kings,  6:27. 

"'0  God,  the  God  of  the  spirits  of  all  flesh,' 
Numb.  16  :  22,  I  lift  up  mine  eyes  unto  thee,  and 
'cry  unto  thee  as  out  of  the  belly  of  hell.'  Jonah 
2:2.  I  cry  unto  thee,  at  least  from  the  borders  of  it. 
Yet,  while  I  lie  before  thee  in  this  infinite  distress,  I 


SINNER'S    LAMENTATION.  J09 

know  that  thine  almighty  power  and  boundless  grace 
can  still  find  out  a  way  for  my  recovery. 

"Thou  art  he  whom  I  have  most  of  all  injured 
and  affronted ;  and  yet  from  thee  alone  must  I  now 
seek  redress.  '  Against  thee,  thee  only,  have  I  sinned, 
and  done  evil  in  thy  sight;'  so  that  'thou  mightest 
be  justified  when  thou  speakest,  and  be  clear  when 
thou  judgest,'  Psa.  51  :  4,  though  thou  shouldst  at 
this  moment  adjudge  me  to  eternal  misery.  And  yet 
I  find  something  that  secretly  draws  me  to  thee,  as 
if  I  might  find  rescue  there,  where  I  have  deserved 
the  most  aggravated  destruction.  Blessed  God,  I 
'have  destroyed  myself;  but  in  thee  is  my  help,' 
Hos.  13  :  9,  if  there  can  be  help  at  all. 

"I  know,  in  the  general,  that  'thy  ways  are  not 
as  our  ways,  nor  thy  thoughts  as  our  thoughts ;'  but 
are  as  'high  above  them  as  the  heavens  are  above 
the  earth.'  Isa.  55  :  8,  9.  '  Have  mercy,'  therefore, 
'upon  me,  0  God,  according  to  thy  loving-kindness, 
according  to  the  multitude  of  thy  tender  mercies. 
Psa.  51  : 1.  0  point  out  the  path  to  the  city  of  ref 
uge.  0  'lead  me'  thyself  'in  the  way. everlasting.' 
Psa.  139  : 24.  I  know,  in  the  general,  that  thy 
Gospel  is  the  only  remedy :  0  teach  thy  servants  to 
administer  it.  0  prepare  my  heart  to  receive  it ;  and 
suffer  not,  as  in  many  instances,  that  malignity  which 
has  spread  itself  through  all  my  nature,  to  turn  that 
noble  medicine  into  poison," 


110  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

NEWS  OF  SALVATION  BY  CHRIST  BROUGHT  TO  THE  CON- 
VINCED AND  CONDEMNED  SINNER. 

1.  The  awful  things  which  have  hitherto  been  said,  intended 
not  to  grieve,  but  to  help. — 2.  After  some  reflection  on  the 
pleasure  with  which  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  may  deliver  the 
message  with  which  he  is  charged. — 3.  And  some  reasons  for 
the  repetition  of  what  is  in  speculation  so  generally  known. — 
4,  6.  The  author  proceeds  briefly  to  declare  the  substance  of 
these  glad  tidings,  namely,  that  God  having  in  his  infinite 
compassion  sent  his  Son  to  die  for  sinners,  is  now  reconcilable 
through  him. — 7,  8.  So  that  the  most  heinous  transgressions 
shall  be  entirely  pardoned  to  believers,  and  they  made  com- 
pletely and  eternally  happy.  The  sinner's  reflection  on  this 
good  news. 

1.  MY  dear  reader,  it  is  the  great  design  of  the 
Gospel,  and  wherever  it  is  cordially  received,  it  is 
the  glorious  effect  of  it,  to  fill  the  heart  with  senti- 
ments of  love ;  to  teach  us  to  abhor  all  unnecessary 
rigor  arid  severity,  and  to  delight  not  in  the  grief, 
but  in  the  happiness  of  our  fellow-creatures.  I  can 
hardly  apprehend  how  he  can  be  a  Christian  who 
takes  pleasure  in  the  distress  which  appears  even  in 
a  brute,  much  less  in  that  of  a  human  mind ;  and 
especially  in  such  distress  as  the  thoughts  I  have 
been  proposing  must  give,  if  there  be  any  due  atten- 


NEWS    OF    SALVATION.  Ill 

tion  to  their  weight  and  energy.  I  have  often  felt  a 
tender  regret  while  I  have  been  representing  these 
things;  and  I  could  have  wished  from  my  heart 
that  it  had  not  been  necessary  to  have  placed  them 
in  so  severe  and  so  painful  a  light.  But  now  I  am 
addressing  myself  to  a  part  of  my  work  which  I  un- 
dertake with  unutterable  pleasure,  and  to  that  which 
indeed  I  had  in  view  in  all  those  awful  things  which 
I  have  already  been  laying  before  you.  I  have  been 
showing  you,  that,  if  you  hitherto  have  lived  in  a 
state  of  impenitence  and  sin,  you  are  condemned  by 
God's  righteous  judgment,  and  have  in  yourself  no 
spring  of  hope  and  no  possibility  of  deliverance. 
But  I  mean  not  to  leave  you  under  this  sad  appre- 
hension, to  He  down  and  die  in  despair,  complaining 
of  that  cruel  zeal  which  has  "tormented  you  before 
your  time."  Matt.  8  :  29. 

2.  Arise,  0  thou  dejected  soul,  that  art  prostrate 
in  the  dust  before  God,  and  trembling  under  the  ter- 
ror of  his  righteous  sentence ;  for  I  am  commissioned 
to  tell  thee,  that,  though  "thou  hast  destroyed  thy- 
self, in  God  is  thine  help."  Hos.  13:9.  I  bring  thee 
"good  tidings  of  great  joy,"  Luke  2  :  10,  which  de- 
light mine  own  heart  while  1  proclaim  them,  and 
will,  I  hope,  reach  and  revive  thine — even  the  tidings 
of  salvation  by  the  blood  and  righteousness  of  the 
Redeemer.  And  I  give  it  thee  for  thy  greater  se- 
curity, in  the  words  of  a  gracious  and  forgiving  God, 


U2  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

that  "he  is  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto  him- 
self, and  not  imputing  to  them  their  trespasses."  2 
Cor.  5  : 19. 

3.  This  is  the  best  news  that  ever  was  heard,  the 
most  important  message  which  God  ever  sent  to  his 
creatures ;  and  though  I  doubt  not,  that  living  as 
you  have  done  in  a  Christian  country,  you  have 
heard  it  often,  perhaps  a  thousand  and  a  thousand 
times,  I  will,  with  all  simplicity  and  plainness,  re- 
peat it  to  you  again,  and  repeat  it  as  if  you  had  never 
heard  it  before.  If  thou,  0  sinner,  shouldst  now  for 
the  first  time  feel  it,  then  will  it  be  as  a  new  gospel 
unto  thee,  though  so  familiar  to  thine  ear ;  nor  shall 
it  be  " grievous  to  me"  to  speak  what  is  so  common, 
"since  to  you  it  is  safe"  and  necessary.  Phil.  3:1. 
They  who  are  most  deeply  and  intimately  acquaint- 
ed with  it,  instead  of  being  cloyed  and  satiated,  will 
hear  it  with  distinguished  pleasure ;  and  as  for  those 
who  have  hitherto  slighted  it,  I  am  sure  they  had 
need  to  hear  it  again.  Nor  is  it  absolutely  impossi- 
ble that  some  one  soul  at  least  may  read  these  lines 
who  hath  never  been  clearly  and  fully  instructed  in 
this  important  doctrine,  though  his  everlasting  all 
depends  on  knowing  and  receiving  it.  I  will  there- 
fore take  care  that  such  a  one  shall  not  have  it  to 
plead  at  the  bar  of  God,  that,  though  he  lived  in  a 
Christian  country,  he  was  never  plainly  and  faith- 
fully taught  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  Jesus  Christ, 


NEWS    OF    SALVATION.  113 

u  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life,  by  whom  alone  we 
come  unto  the  Father."     John  14  :  6. 

4.  I  do  therefore  testify  unto  you  this  day,  that  the 
holy  and  gracious  Majesty  of  heaven  and  earth,  fore- 
seeing the  fatal  apostasy  into  which  the  whole  hu- 
man race  would  fall,  did  not  determine  to  deal  in  a 
way  of  strict  and  rigorous  severity  with  us,  so  as  to 
consign  us  over  to  universal  ruin  and  inevitable  dam- 
nation ;  but  on  the  contrary,  he  determined  to  enter 
into  a  treaty  of  peace  and  reconciliation,  and  to  pub- 
lish to  all  whom  the  Gospel  should  reach,  the  express 
offers  of  life  and  glory,  in  a  certain  method  which  his 
infinite  wisdom  judged  suitable  to  the  purity  of  his 
nature  and  the  honor  of  his  government.    This  meth- 
od was  indeed  a  most  astonishing  one,  which,  familiar 
as  it  is  to  our  thoughts  and  our  tongues,  I  cannot 
recollect  and  mention  without  great  amazement.    He 
determined  to  send  his  own  Son  into  the  world,  "the 
brightness  of  his  glory,  and  the  express  image  of  his 
person,"  Heb.  1:3,  partaker  of  his  own  divine  per- 
fections and  honors,  to  be  not  merely  a  teacher  of 
righteousness  and  a  messenger  of  grace,  but  also  a 
sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  men ;  and  would  consent  to 
his  saving  them  on  no  other  condition  but  this,  that 
he  should  not  only  labor,  but  die  in  the  cause. 

5.  Accordingly,  at  such  a  period  of  time  as  infir 
nite  wisdom  saw  most  convenient,  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  appeared  in  human  flesh ;  and  after  he  had 

Rise  and  Prog.  g 


114  RISE   AND  PROGRESS. 

gone  through  incessant  and  long-continued  fatigue, 
and  borne  all  the  preceding  injuries  which  the  in- 
gratitude and  malice  of  men  could  inflict,  he  volun- 
tarily ''submitted  himself  to  death,  even  the  death  of 
the  cross,"  Phil.  2:8;  and  having  been  "delivered 
for  our  offences,  was  raised  again  for  our  justifica- 
tion." Horn.  4  :  25.  After  his  resurrection  he  con- 
tinued long  enough  on  earth  to  give  his  followers 
most  convincing  evidences  of  it,  and  then  "ascended 
into  heaven  in  their  sight,"  Acts  1  :  9-11 ;  and  sent 
down  his  Spirit  from  thence  unto  his  apostles,  to  en- 
able them,  in  the  most  persuasive  and  authoritative 
manner,  "to  preach  the  Gospel ;"  and  he  has  given  it 
in  charge  to  them,  and  to  those  who  in  every  age 
succeed  them  in  this  part  of  their  office,  that  it  should 
be  published  "to  every  creature,"  Mark  16  : 15,  that 
all  who  believe  in  it  may  be  saved  bjrvirtue  of  its 
abiding  energy,  and  the  immutable  power  and  grace 
of  its  divine  Author,  who  is  "  the  same  yesterday,  to- 
day, and  for  ever."  Heb.  13  :  8. 

6.  This  Gospel  do  I  therefore  now  preach  and 
proclaim  unto  thee,  0  reader,  with  the  sjncerest  de- 
sire that,  through  divine  grace;  it  may  "this  very  day 
be  salvation  to  thy  souL"  Luke  19:9.  Know,  there- 
fore, and  consider  it,  whosoever  thou  art,  that  as 
surely  as  these  words  are  now  before  thine  eyes,  so 
sure  it  is  that  the  incarnate  San  of  God  was  "made 
a  spectacle  to  the  world,  and  to  angels,  and  to  men," 


NEWS   OF    SALVATION.  1L5 

1  Cor.  4:9;  his  back  torn  with  scourges,  Ms  head 
with  thorns,  his  limbs  stretched  out  as  on  a  rack, 
and  nailed  to  the  accursed  tree ;  and  in  this  misera- 
ble condition  he  was  hung  by  his  hands  and  feet,  as 
an  object  of  public  infamy  and  contempt.  Thus  did 
he  die  in  the  midst  of  all  the  taunts  and  insults .  of 
his  cruel  enemies,  who  thirsted  for  his  blood ;  and, 
which  was  the  saddest  circumstance  of  all,  in  the 
midst  of  those  agonies  with  which  he  closed  the  most 
innocent,  perfect,  and  useful  life  that  ever  was  spent 
on  earth,,  he  had  not  those  supports  of  the  divine 
presence  which  sinful  men  have  often  experienced 
when  they  have  been  suffering  for  the  testimony  of 
their  conscience.  They  have  often  burst  out  into 
transports  of  joy  and  songs  of  praise,  while  their  ex- 
ecutioners have  been  glutting  their  hellish  malice, 
and  more  than  savage  barbarity,  by  making  their 
torments  artificially  grievous ;  but  the  crucified  Jesus 
cried  out,  in  the  distress  of  his  spotless  and  holy  soul, 
"My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?'* 
Matt.  27  : 46. 

7.  Look  upon  your  dear  Redeemer;  look  up  to 
this  mournful,  dreadful,  yet,  in  one  view,  delightful 
-spectacle;  and  then  ask  thine  own  heart,  Do  I  be- 
lieve that  Jesus  suffered  and  died  thus?  And  why 
did  he  suffer  and  die  ?  Let  me  answer  in  God's  own 
words,  "He  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions,  he 
was  bruised  for  our  iniquities,  and  the  chastisement 


1.16  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

of  our  peace  was  upon  him,  that  by  his  stripes  we 
might  be  healed :  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  bruise  him, 
and  put  him  to  grief,  when  he  made  his  soul  an  of- 
fering for  sin ;  for  the  Lord  laid  on  him  the  iniquity 
of  us  all."  Isa.  53  :  5,  6, 10.  So  that  I  may  address 
you  in  the  words  of  the  apostle,  "Be  it  known  unto 
you,  therefore,  that  through  this  Man  is  preached 
unto  you  the  forgiveness  of  sins,"  Acts  13:38;  as  it 
was  his  command,  just  after  he  arose  from  the  dead, 
"  that  repentance  and  remission  of  sins  should  be 
preached  in  his  name  among  all  nations,  beginning 
at  Jerusalem,"  Luke  24  :  47,  the  very  place  where 
his  blood  had  so  lately  been  shed  in  such  a  cruel 
manner.  I  do  thereby  testify  to  you,  in  the  words 
of  another  inspired  writer,  that  Christ  was  made  sin, 
that  is,  a  sin-offering,  "  for  us,  though  he  knew  no 
sin,  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God 
in  him,"  2  Cor.  5:21;  that  is,  that  through  the 
righteousness  he  has  fulfilled,  and  the  atonement  he 
has  made,  we  might  be  accepted  by  God  as  righteous, 
and  be  not  only  pardoned,  but  received  into  his  favor. 
"To  you  is  the  word  of  this  salvation  sent,"  Acts 
13  : 26,  and  to  you,  0  reader,  are  the  blessings  of  it 
even  now  offered  by  God,  sincerely  offered ;  so  that,  - 
after  all  that  I  have  said  under  the  former  heads,  it 
is  not  your  having  broken  the  law  of  God  that  shall 
prove  your  ruin,  if  you  do  not  also  reject  his  gospel. 
It  is  not  all  those  legions  of  sins  which  rise  up  in 


NEWS    OF    SALVATION.  117 

battle  array  against  you  that  shall  be  able  to  destroy 
you,  if  unbelief  do  not  lead  them  on,  and  final  im- 
penitency  do  not  bring  up  the  rear.  I  know  that  guilt 
is  a  timorous  thing;  I  will  therefore  speak  in  the 
words  of  God  himself,  nor  can  any  be  more  comfort- 
able: "He  that  believeth  on  the  Son,  hath  everlast- 
ing life,"  John  3  :  36,  "and  he  shall  never  come  into 
condemnation."  John  5  :  24.  "There  is  therefore 
now  no  condemnation,"  no  kind  or  degree  of  it,  "to 
them,"  to  any  one  of  them,  "who  are  in  Christ  Jesus, 
who  walk  not  after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit." 
Rom.  8:1.  You  have  indeed  been  a  very  great  sin- 
ner, and  your  offences  have  truly  been  attended  with 
most  heinous  aggravations ;  nevertheless  you  may  re- 
joice in  the  assurance,  that  "where  sin  hath  abound- 
ed, there  shall  grace  much  more  abound ;"  "  that 
where  sin  hath  reigned  unto  death,"  where  it  has 
had  its  most  unlimited  sway  and  most  unresisted  tri- 
umph, there  "  shall  righteousness  reign  to  eternal  life, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."  Rom.  5  :  21.  That 
righteousness,  to  which  on  believing  on  him  thou 
wilt  be  entitled,  shall  not  only  break  those  chains  by 
which  sin  is,  as  it  were,  dragging  thee  at  its  chariot- 
•  wheels  with  a  furious  pace  to  eternal  ruin,  but  it 
shall  clothe  thee  with  the  robes  of  salvation,  shall 
fix  thee  on  a  throne  of  glory,  where  thou  shalt  live 
and  reign  for  ever  among  the  princes  of  heaven,  shalt 
reign  in  immortal  beauty  and  joy,  without  one  re- 


118  RISE  AND   PROGRESS. 

maining  scar  of  divine  displeasure  upon  thee,  with- 
out any  single  mark  by  which  it  could  be  known  that 
thou  hadst  ever  been  obnoxious  to  wrath  and  a  curse, 
except  it  be  an  anthem  of  praise  to  "the  Lamb  that 
was  slain,  and  has  washed  thee  from  thy  sins  in  his 
own  blood."  Rev.  1:5. 

8.  Nor  is  it  necessary,  in  order  to  thy  being  re- 
leased from  guilt,  and  entitled  to  this  high  and  com- 
plete felicity,  that  thou  shouldst,  before  thou  wilt  ven- 
ture to  apply  to  Jesus,  bring  any  good  works  of  thine 
own  to  recommend  thee  to  his  acceptance.  It  is  in- 
deed true,  that,  if  thy  faith  be  sincere,  it  will  certain- 
ly produce  them ;  but  I  have  the  authority  of  the 
word  of  God  to  tell  thee,  that  if  thou  this  day  sin- 
cerely believest  in  the  name  of  the  Son  of  God,  thou 
shalt  this  day  be  taken  under  his  care,  and  be  num- 
bered among  those  of  his  sheep  to  whom  he  hath 
graciously  declared  that  "he  will  give  eternal  life, 
and  that  they  shall  never  perish."  John  10  :  28. 
Thou  hast  no  need  therefore  to  say,  "Who  shall  go 
up  into  heaven,  or  who  shall  descend  into  the  deep 
for  me?  For  the  word  is  nigh  thee,  in  thy  mouth, 
and  in  thy  heart."  Horn.  10':  6,  7,  8.  "With  this 
joyful  message  I  leave  thee — with  this  faithful 
saying,  indeed  "worthy  of  all  acceptation,"  1  Tim. 
1  :  15 — with  this  Gospel,  0  sinner,  which  is  my 
life ;  and  which,  if  thou  dost  not  reject  it,  will  be 
thine  too.  •* 


NEWS    OF    SALVATION.  119 

THE  SINNER'S  REFLECTION  ON  THIS  GOOD  NEWS. 

11  0  my  soul,  how  astonishing  is  the  message  which 
thou  hast  this  day  received !  I  have  indeed  often 
beard  it  before,  and  it  is  grown  so  common  to  me, 
that  the  surprise  is  not  sensible.  But  reflect,  0  my 
soul,  what  it  is  thou  hast  heard,  and  say  whether 
the  name  of  a  Saviour,  whose  message  it  is,  may  not 
well  be  called  '  Wonderful,  Counsellor,'  Isa.  9  :  6, 
when  he  displays  before  thee  such  wonders  of  love, 
and  proposes  to  thee  such  counsels  of  peace. 

" Blessed  Jesus,  is  it  indeed  thus?  Is  it  not  the 
fiction  of  the  human  mind  ?  Surely  it  is  not.  "What 
human  mind  could  have  invented  or  conceived  it  ? 
It  is  a  plain,  a  certain  fact,  that  thou  didst  leave  the 
magnificence  and  joy  of  the  heavenly  world  in  com- 
passion to  such  a  wretch  as  I.  0,  hadst  thou  from 
that  height  of  dignity  and  felicity  only  looked  down 
upon  me  for  one  moment,  and  sent  some  gracious 
word  to  me  for  my  direction  and  comfort,  even  by  the 
least  of  thy  servants,  justly  might  I  have  prostrated 
myself  in  grateful  admiration,  and  have  kissed  '  the 
very  footsteps'  of  him  'that  published  the  salvation.' 
Isa.  52  :  7.  But  didst  thou  condescend  to  be  thyself 
the  messenger  ?  What  grace  had  that  been,  though 
thou  hadst  but  once  in  person  made  the  declaration, 
and  immediately  returned  back  to  the  throne  from 
which  divine  compassion  brought  thee  down.  But 
this  is  not  all  the  triumph  of  thine  illustrious  grace, 


120  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

It  not  only  brought  thee  down  to  earth,  but  kept  thee 
here  in  a  frail  and  wretched  tabernacle,  for  long  suc- 
cessive years ;  and  at  length  it  cost  thee  thy  life,  and 
stretched  thee  out  as  a  malefactor  upon  the  cross, 
after  thou  hadst  borne  insult  and  cruelty  which  it 
may  justly  wound  my  heart  so  much  as  to  think  of. 
And  thus  thou  hast  atoned  injured  justice,  and  *  re- 
deemed me  to  God  with  thine  own  blood.'  Rev.  5:9. 

"What  shall  I  say?  'Lord,  I  believe;  help  thou 
my  unbelief  Mark  9  :  24.  It  seems  to  put  faith 
to  the  stretch,  to  admit  what  it  indeed  exceeds  the 
utmost  stretch  of  imagination  to  conceive.  Blessed, 
for  ever  blessed  be  thy  name,  0  thou  Father  of  mer- 
cies, that  thou  hast  contrived  the  way.  Eternal 
thanks  to  the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  and  to  that  kind 
Providence  that  sent  the  word  of  this  salvation  to 
me.  0  let  me  not,  for  ten  thousand  worlds, '  receive 
the  grace  of  God  in  vain.'  2  Cor.  6  : 1.  0  impress 
this  Gospel  upon  my  soul,  till  its  saving  virtue  be 
diffused  over  every  faculty.  Let  it  not  only  be  heard, 
and  acknowledged,  and  professed,  but  felt.  Make  it 
'thy  power  to  my  eternal  salvation,'  Rom.  1  :  16  ; 
and  raise  me  to  that  humble,  tender  gratitude,  to  that 
active,  unwearied  zeal  in  thy  service,  which  becomes 
one  'to  whom  so  much  is  forgiven,'  Luke  7  : 47,  and 
forgiven  upon  such  terms  as  these. 

"  I  feel  a  sudden  glow  in  mine  heart  while  these 
tidings  are  sounding  in  mine  ears ;  but  0,  let  it  not 


NEWS    OF    SALVATION.  121 

be  a  slight,  superficial  transport.  0  let  not  this, 
which  I  would  fain  call  my  Christian  joy,  be  as  that 
foolish  laughter,  with  which  I  have  been  so  madly 
enchanted,  'like  the  crackling  blaze  of  thorns  under 
a  pot.'  Eccles.  7:6.  0  teach  me  to  secure  this 
mighty  blessing,  this  glorious  hope,  in  the  method 
which  thou  hast  appointed;  and  preserve  me  from 
mistaking  the  joy  of  nature,  while  it  catches  a  glimpse 
of  its  rescue  from  destruction,  for  that  consent  of  grace 
which  embraces  and  insures  the  deliverance." 


122  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

A  MORE  PARTICULAR  ACCdUNT  OF  THE  WAY  BY  WHICH 
THIS  SALVATION  IS  TO  BE  OBTAINED. 

1.  An  inquiry  into  the  way  of  salvation  by  Christ  being  sup- 
posed.— 2.  The  sinner  is  in  general  directed  to  repentance 
and  faith. — 3.  And  urged  to  give  up  all  self-dependence. — 4. 
And  to  seek  salvation  by  free  grace. — 5.  A  summary  of  more 
particular  directions  is  proposed. — 6.  That  the  sinner  should 
apply  to  Christ. — 7.  With  a  deep  abhorrence  of  his  former 
gins. — 8.  And  a  firm  resolution  of  forsaking  them. — 9.  That 
he  solemnly  commits  his  soul  into  the  hands  of  Christ,  the  great 
vital  act  of  faith. — 10.  Which  is  exemplified  at  large. — 11. 
That  he  make  it  in  fact  the  governing  care  of  his  future  life 
to  obey  and  imitate  Christ. — 12.  This  is  the  only  method  of 
obtaining  gospel  salvation.  The  sinner  deliberating  on  the 
necessity  of  accepting  it. 

1 .  I  NOW  consider  you,  my  dear  reader,  as  coming 
to  me  with  the  inquiry  which  the  Jews  once  address- 
ed to  our  Lord:  "What  shall  we  do,  that  we  may 
work  the  works  of  God  ?"  John  6  :  28.  "  What 
method  shall  I  take  to  secure  that  redemption  and 
salvation  which  I  am  told  Christ  has  procured  for  his 
people?"  I  would  answer  it  as  seriously  and  care- 
fully as  possible,  as  one  that  Joiows  of  what  impor- 
tance it  is  to  you  to  be  rightly  informed ;  and  that 
knows  also  how  strictly  he  is  to  answer  to  God  for 
the  sincerity  and  care  with  which  the  reply  is  made. 


SALVATION,    HOW    OBTAINED.  153 

May  I  be  enabled  to  "speak  as  his  oracle,"  1  Pet, 
4:11,  that  is,  in  such  a  manner  as  faithfully  to  echo 
back  what  the  sacred  oracles  teach. 

2.  And  here,  that  I  may  be  sure  to  follow  the  safest 
guides  and  the  fairest  examples,  I  must  preach  salva- 
tion to  you  in  the  way  of  "repentance  toward  God, 
and  of  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  Acts  20  :  21, 
that  good  old  doctrine  which  the  apostles  preached, 
and  which  no  man  can  pretend  to  change  but  at  the 
peril  of  his  own  soul,  and  of  theirs  who  attend  to 
him. 

3.  I  suppose  that  you  are  by  this  time  convinced 
of  your  guilt  and  condemnation,  and  of  your  own 
inability  to  recover  yourself.     Let  me  nevertheless 
urge  you  to  feel  that  conviction  yet  more  deeply,  and 
to  impress  it  with  yet  greater  weight  upon  your  soul ; 
that  you  have  "undone  yourself,"  and  that  "in  your- 
self is  not  your  help  found."     Hosea  13  :  9.     Be 
persuaded,  therefore,   expressly,  and  solemnly,  and 
sincerely,  to  give  up  all  self-dependence;  which,  if 
you  do  not  guard  against  it,  will  be  ready  to  return 
secretly  before  it  is  observed,  and  will  lead  you  to 
attempt  building  up  what  you  have  just  been  de- 
stroying. 

4.  Be  assured,  that,  if  ever  you  are  saved,  you 
must  ascribe  that  salvation  entirely  to  the  free  grace 
of  God.     If,  guilty  and  miserable  as  you  are,  you  are 
not  only  accepted,  but  crowned,  you  must  "lay  down 


124  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

your  crown,"  with  all  humble  acknowledgment,  "be- 
fore the  throne."  Rev.  4:10.  "  No  flesh  must  glory 
in  his  presence ;  but  he  that  glorieth,  must  glory  in 
the  Lord ;  for  of  him  are  we  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  of 
God  is  made  unto  us  wisdom,  and  righteousness,  and 
sanctification,  and  redemption."  1  Cor.  1 :29,  30,  31. 
And  you  must  be  sensible  you  are  in  such  a  state, 
as,  having  none  of  these  in  yourself,  to  need  them  in 
another.  You  must  therefore  be  sensible  that  you 
are  ignorant  and  guilty,  polluted  and  enslaved  ;  or, 
as  our  Lord  expresses  it,  with  regard  to  some  who 
were  under  a  Christian  profession,  that  as  a  sinner 
"you  are  wretched,  and  miserable,  and  poor,  and 
blind,  and  naked."  Rev.  3  :  17. 

5.  If  these  views  be  deeply  impressed  upon  your 
mind,  you  will  be  prepared  to  receive  what  I  am 
now  to  say.     Hear,  therefore,  in  a  few  words,  your 
duty,  your  remedy,  and  your  safety ;  which  consists 
in  this,  "  That  you  must  apply  to  Christ,  with  a  deep 
abhorrence  of  your  former  sins,  and  a  firm  resolution 
of  forsaking  them ;    forming  that  resolution  in  the 
strength  of  his  grace,  and  fixing  your  dependence  in 
him  for  your  acceptance  with  God,  even  while  you 
are  purposing  to  do  your  very  best,  and  when  you 
have  actually  done  the  best  you  ever  will  do  in  con- 
sequence of  that  purpose." 

6.  The  first  and  most  important  advice  that  I  can 
give  you,  in  your  present  circumstances,  is,  that  you 


-  SALVATION,   HOW  OBTAINED.  125 

y^      * x  '**  £*  \  • 

look  to  Christ,  and  apply  yourself  t0  him.  And  here, 
say  not  in  your  heart,  "  Who  shall  ascend  into  'heaven, 
to  bring  him  down  to  me  ?"  Rom,  10  :  6,  or.  "  AYho 
shall  raise  me  up  thither,  to  present  me  before  him?" 
The  blessed  "Jesus,  by  whom  all  things  consist," 
Col.  1  :  17,  by  whom  the  whole  system,  of  them  is 
supported,  "  forgotten  as  he  is  by  most  that  bear  his 
name,"  "is  not  far  from  any  of  us,"  Acts  17  :  27  ; 
nor  could  he  have  promised  to  have  been  "  wherever 
two  or  three  are  met  together  in  his  name,"  Matt. 
18  :  20,  but  in  consequence  of  those  truly  divine  per- 
fections, by  which  he  is  everywhere  present.  Would 
you,  therefore,  0  sinner,  desire  to  be  saved  ?  Go  to 
the  Saviour.  Would  you  desire  to  be  delivered  ? 
Look  to  that  great  Deliverer ;  and  though  you  should 
be  so  overwhelmed  with  guilt,  and  shame,  and  fear, 
or  horror,  that  you  should  be  incapable  of  speaking 
to  him,  fall  down  in  this  speechless  confusion  at  his 
feet,  "  and  behold  him  as  the  Lamb  of  God,  that 
taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world."  John  1  :  29. 

7.  Behold  him,  therefore,  with  an  attentive  eye, 
and  say  whether  the  sight  does  not  touch,  and  even 
melt  thy  very  heart.  Dost  thou  not  feel  what  a 
foolish,  and  what  a  wretched  creature  thou  hast 
been,  that  for  the  sake  of  such  low  and  sordid  grati- 
fications and  interests  as  those  which  thou  hast  been 
pursuing,  thou  shouldst  thus  "kill  the  Prince  of 
life?"  Acts  3  :  15.  Behold  the  deep  wounds  which 


126  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

lie  bore  for  thee,  "  look  on  him  whom  thou  hast 
pierced,  and  surely  thou  must  mourn,"  Zech.  12:10, 
unless  thine  heart  be  hardened  into  stone.  "Which 
of  thy  past  sins  canst  thou  reflect  upon,  and  say, 
"  For  this  it  is  worth  my  while  to  have  thus  injured 
my  Saviour,  and  to  have  exposed  the  Son  of  God  to 
such  sufferings  ?"  And  what  future  temptations  can 
arise  so  considerable,  that  thou  shouldst  say,  "For 
the  sake  of  this,  I  will  crucify  my  Lord  again?" 
Heb.  6:6.  Sinner,  thou  must  repent — thou  must 
repent  of  every  sin,  and  must  forsake  it ;  but  if  thou 
cloest  it  to  any  purpose,  I  well  know  it  must  be  at 
the  foot  of  the  cross.  Thou  must  sacrifice  every 
lust,  even  the  dearest,  though  it  should  be  like  a 
"right  hand  or  a  right  eye,"  Matt.  5  :  29,  30  ;  and 
therefore  that  thou  mayest,  if  possible,  be  animated 
to  it,  I  have  led  thee  to  that  altar  on  which  "  Christ 
himself  was  sacrificed  for  thee,  an  offering  of  a  sweet 
smelling  savor."  Eph.  5  :  2.  Thou  must  "  yield  up 
thyself  to  God,  as  one  alive  from  the  dead."  Rom. 
6:13.  And  therefore  I  have  showed  thee  at  what  a 
price  he  purchased  thee ;  "for  thou  wast  not  re- 
deemed with  corruptible  things,  as  silver  and  gold, 
but  with  the  precious  blood  of  the  Son  of  God,  that 
Lamb  without  blemish  and  without  spot."  1  Peter, 
1  :  18,  19.  And  now  I  would  ask  thee,  as  before 
the  Lord,  what  does  thine  own  heart  say  to  it  ?  Art 
thou  grieved  for  thy  former  offences  ?  Art  thou  will- 


SALVATION,   HOW  OBTAINED.  127 

ing  to  forsake  thy  sins  ?  Art  thou  willing  to  become 
the  cheerful,  thankful  servant  of  him  who  hath  pur- 
chased thee  with  his  own  blood  ? 

8.  I  will  suppose  such  a  purpose  as  this  rising  in 
thine  heart.     How  determinate  it  is,  and  how  effect- 
ual it  may  be,  I  know  not ;  what  different  views 
may  arise  hereafter,  or  how  soon  the  present  sense 
may  wear  off.    But  this  I  assuredly  know,  that  thou 
wilt  never  see  reason  to  change  these  views ;  for, 
however  thou  mayest  alter,  the  "  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  for  ever."     Heb. 
13  :  8.     And  the  reasons  that  now  recommend  re- 
pentance and  faith  as  fit  and  necessary,  will  continue 
invariable  as  long  as  the  perfections  of  the  blessed 
God  are  the  same,  and  as  long  as  his  Son  continues 
the  same. 

9.  But  while  you  have  these  views  and  these  pur- 
poses, I  must  remind  you  that  this  is  not  all  which 
is  necessary  to  your  salvation.     You  must  not  only 
purpose,  but  as  God  gives  opportunity,  you  must  act 
as  those  who  are  convinced  of  the  evil  of  sin,  and  of 
the  necessity  and  excellence  of  holiness.     And  that 
you  may  be  enabled  to  do  so  in  other  instances,  you 
must  in  the  first  place,  and  as  the  first  great  work  of 
God,  as  our  Lord  himself  calls  it,  "  believe  in  him 
whom  God  hath  sent,"  John  6  :  29  ;  you  must  con- 
fide in  him ;  must  commit  your  soul  into  the  hands 
of  Christ,  to  be  saved  by  him  in  his  own  "  appointed 


128  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

method  of  salvation."  This  is  the  great  act  of  sav- 
ing faith,  and  I  pray  God  that  you  may  experimen- 
tally know  what  it  means,  so  as  to  be  able  to  say 
with  the  apostle  Paul,  in  the  near  view  of  death  it- 
self, "I  know  whom  I  have  believed,  and  am  per- 
suaded that  he  is  able  to  keep  that  which  I  have 
committed  to  him  until  that  day,"  2  Tim.  1  :  12; 
that  great  decisive  day,  which,  if  we  are  Christians, 
we  have  always  in  view.  To  this  I  would  urge  you  ; 
and  0  that  I  could  be  so  happy  as  to  engage  you  to 
it  while  I  am  illustrating  it  in  this  and  the  following 
addresses.  Be  assured  you  must  not  apply  yourself 
immediately  to  God  absolutely,  or  in  himself  con- 
sidered, in  the  neglect  of  a  Mediator.  It  will  neither 
be  acceptable  to  him,  nor  safe  for  you,  to  rush  into 
his  presence  without  any  regard  to  his  own  Son, 
whom  he  hath  appointed  to  introduce  sinners  to 
him.  And  if  you  come  otherwise,  you  come  as  one 
who  is  not  a  sinner.  The  very  manner  of  presenting 
the  address  will  be  interpreted  as  a  denial  of  that 
guilt  with  which  he  knows  you  are  chargeable ; 
and  therefore  he  will  not  admit  you,  nor  so  much  as 
look  upon  you.  And  accordingly  our  Lord,  knowing 
how  much  every  man  living  was  concerned  in  this, 
gays,  in  the  most  universal  terms,  "  No  man  cometh 
unto  the  Father  but  by  me."  John  14  :  6. 

10.  Apply  therefore  to  this  glorious  Redeemer, 
amiable  as  he  will  appear  to  every  believing  eye  in 


LANGUAGE   OF   SUBMISSION.  129 

the  blood  which  he  shed  upon  the  cross,  and  in  the 
wounds  which  he  received  there.  Go  to  him,  0  sin- 
ner, this  day,  this  moment,  with  all  thy  sins  about 
thee.  Go  just  as  thou  art ;  for  if  thou  wilt  never 
apply  to  him  till  thou  art  first  righteous  and  holy, 
thou  wilt  never  be  righteous  and  holy  at  all ;  nor 
canst  be  so  on  this  supposition,  unless  there  were 
some  way  of  being  so  without  him ;  and  then  there 
would  be  no  occasion  for  applying  to  him  for  right- 
eousness  and  holiness.  It  were,  indeed,  as  if  it  should 
be  said  that  a  sick  man  should  defer  his  application 
to  a  physician  till  his  health  is  recovered.  Let  me, 
therefore,  repeat  it  without  offence,  go  to  him  just  as 
thou  art,  and  say — 0  that  thou  mayest  this  moment 
be  enabled  to  say  it  from  thy  very  soul — "  Blessed 
Jesus,  I  am  surely  one  of  the  most  sinful,  and  one  of 
the  most  miserable  creatures  that  ever  fell  prostrate 
before  thee ;  nevertheless,  I  come,  because  I  have 
heard  that  thou  didst  once  say,  '  Come  unto  me,  all 
ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give 
you  rest.'  Matt.  11  :  28.  I  come,  because  I  have 
heard  that  thou  didst  graciously  say,  'Him  that 
cometh  unto  me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out.'  John 
6  *.  37.  0  thou  Prince  of  peace,  0  thou  King  of 
glory,  I  am  a  condemned,  miserable  sinner ;  I  have 
ruined  my  own  soul,  and  am  condemned  for  ever,  if 
thou  dost  not  help  me  and  save  me.  I  have  broken 
thy  Father's  law  and  thine  ;  for  thou  art  '  one  with 

Rise  and  Prog»  Q 


130  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

him.'  John  10  :  30.  I  have  deserved  condemna- 
tion and  wrath ;  and  I  am,  even  at  this  very  mo- 
ment, under  a  sentence  of  everlasting  destruction — a 
destruction  which  will  be  aggravated  by  all  the  con- 
tempt that  I  have  cast  upon  thee,  0  thou  bleeding 
Lamb  of  God  ;  for  I  cannot  and  will  not  dissemble  it 
before  thee,  that  I  have  wronged  thee,  most  basely 
and  ungratefully  wronged  thee,  under  the  character 
of  a  Saviour  as  well  as  of  a  Lord.  But  now  I  am 
willing  to  submit  to  thee ;  and  I  have  brought  my 
poor  trembling  soul  to  lodge  it  in  thine  hands,  if 
thou  wilt  condescend  to  receive  it ;  and  if  thou  dost 
not,  it  must  perish.  0  Lord,  I  lie  at  thy  feet ;  stretch 
out  '  thy  golden  sceptre  that  I  may  live.'  Esther 
4:11.  '  Yea,  if  it  please  the  King,  let  the  life  of 
my  soul  be  given  me  at  my  petition.'  Esther  7:3. 
I  have  no  treasure  wherewith  to  purchase  it,  I  have 
no  equivalent  to  give  thee  for  it ;  but  if  that  com- 
passionate heart  of  thine  can  find  a  pleasure  in  sav- 
ing one  of  the  most  distressed  creatures  under  heaven, 
that  pleasure  thou  mayest  here  find.  0  Lord,  I  have 
foolishly  attempted  to  be  my  own  saviour,  but  it  will 
not  do.  I  am  sensible  the  attempt  is  vain,  and 
therefore  I  give  it  over,  and  look  unto  thee.  On 
thee,  blessed  Jesus,  who  art  sure  and  steadfast,  do  I 
desire  to  fix  my  anchor.  On  thee,  as  the  only  sure 
foundation,  would  I  build  my  eternal  hopes.  To  thy 
teaching,  0  thou  unerring  Prophet  of  the  Lord,  would 


HOLY  LIFE   ESSENTIAL.  13) 

1  submit ;  be  thy  doctrines  ever  so  mysterious,  it  is 
enough  for  me  that  thou  thyself  hast  said  it.     To 
thine  atonement,  obedience,  and  intercession,  0  thou 
holy  and  ever-acceptable  High-priest,  would  I  trust. 
And  to  thy  government,  0  thou  exalted  Sovereign, 
would  I  yield  a  willing,  delightful  subjection :   in 
token  of  reverence  and  love,  '  I  kiss  the  Son,'  Psalm 

2  :  12.     I  kiss  the  ground  before  his  feet.     I  admit 
thee,  0  my  Saviour,  and  welcome  thee,  with  unut- 
terable joy,  to  the  throne  in  my  heart.     Ascend  it, 
and  reign  there  for  ever.     Subdue  mine  enemies,  0 
Lord,  for  they  are  thine  ;  and  make  me  thy  faithful 
and  zealous  servant ;  faithful  to  death,  and  zealous 
to  eternity." 

11.  Such  as  this  must  be  the  language  of  your 
very  heart  before  the  Lord.  But  then  remember, 
that  in  consequence  thereof,  it  must  be  the  language 
of  your  life  too.  The  unmeaning  words  of  the  lips 
would  be  a  vain  mockery.  The  most  affectionate 
transport  of  the  passions,  should  it  be  transient  and 
ineffectual,  would  be  but  like  a  blaze  of  straw  pre- 
sented, instead  of  incense,  at  his  altar.  With  such 
humility,  with  such  love,  with  such  cordial  self-dedi- 
cation and  submission  of  soul,  must  thou  often  pros- 
trate thyself  in  the  presence  of  Christ ;  and  then 
thou  must  go  away,  and  keep  him  in  thy  view ; 
must  go  away,  and  live  unto  God  through  him,  de- 
nying ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts,  and  behaving 


132  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

thyself  "  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly,"  in  this  vain, 
ensnaring  world.  Tit.  2  :  12.  You  must  make  it 
your  care  to  show  your  love  by  obedience,  by  form- 
ing yourself,  as  much  as  possible,  according  to  the 
temper  and  manner  of  Jesus,  in  whom  you  believe. 
You  must  make  it  the  great  point  of  your  ambition, 
and  a  nobler  view  you  cannot  entertain,  to  be  a  liv- 
ing image  of  Christ ;  that,  so  far  as  circumstances 
will  allow,  even  those  who  have  heard  and  read  but 
little  of  him  may,  by  observing  you,  in  some  measure 
see  and  know  what  kind  of  a  life  that  of  the  blessed 
Jesus  was.  And  this  must  be  your  constant  care, 
your  prevailing  character,  as  long  as  you  live.  You 
must  follow  him  whithersoever  he  leads  you ;  must 
follow  with  a  cross  on  your  shoulder,  when  he  com- 
mands you  to  "take  it  up,"  Matt.  16  :  24;  and  so 
must  be  faithful  even  unto  death,  expecting  "  the 
crown  of  life."  Rev.  2  :  10. 

12.  This,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn  from 
the  word  of  God,  is  the  way  to  safety  and  glory  ;  the 
surest,  the  only  way  you  can  take.  It  is  the  way 
which  every  faithful  minister  of  Christ  has  trod,  and 
£S  treading ;  and  the  way  to  which,  as  he  tenders 
the  salvation  of  his  own  soul,  he  must  direct  others, 
We  cannot,  we  would  not  alter  it  in  favor  of  our- 
selves, or  of  our  dearest  friends.  It  is  the  way  in 
which  alone,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  it  becomes  the 
blessed  God  to  save  his  apostate  creatures.  And 


SINNER  DELIBERATING.  133 

therefore,  reader,  I  beseech  and  entreat  you  seriously 
to  consider  it ;  and  let  your  own  conscience  answer, 
as  in  the  presence  of  God,  whether  you  are  willing 
to  acquiesce  in  it  or  not  But  know,  that  to  reject 
it  is  thine  eternal  death.  For  as  "  there  is  no  other 
name  under  heaven  given  among  men,  whereby  we 
can  be  saved,"  Acts  4  :  12,  but  this  of  Jesus  of  Naz- 
areth, so  there  is  no  other  method  but  this  in  which 

Jesus  himself  will  save  us. 

+ 

THE   SINNER   DELIBERATING    ON    THE    EXPEDIENCY  OF 
FALLING  IN  WITH  THIS  METHOD  OF  SALVATION. 

"  Consider,  0  my  soul,  what  answer  wilt  thou  re- 
turn to  such  proposals  as  these  ?  Surely,  if  I  were 
to  speak  the  first  dictate  of  this  corrupt  and  degen- 
erate heart,  it  would  be,  '  This  is  a  hard  saying,  and 
who  can  hear  it  ?'  John  6  :  60.  To  be  thus  hum- 
bled, thus  mortified,  thus  subjected.  To  take  such 
a  yoke  upon  me,  and  to  carry  it  as  long  as  I  live. 
To  give  up  every  darling  lust,  though  dear  to  me  as 
a  right  eye,  and  seemingly  necessary  as  a  right  hand. 
To  submit  not  only  my  life,  but  my  heart,  to  the 
command  and  discipline  of  another.  To  have  a 
master  there,  and  such  a  master  as  will  control 
many  of  its  favorite  affections,  and  direct  them  quite 
into  another  channel — a  master  who  himself  repre- 
sents his  commands,  by  taking  up  the  cross  and  fol- 
lowing him.  To  adhere  to  the  strictest  rules  of  god- 


134  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

liness  and  sobriety,  of  righteousness  and  truth ;  not 
departing  from  them  in  any  allowed  instance,  great 
or  small,  upon  any  temptation,  for  any  advantage,  to 
escape  any  inconvenience  and  evil,  no,  not  even  for 
the  preservation  of  life  itself;  but,  upon  a  proper  call 
of  Providence,  to  act  as  if  I  '  hated  even  my  own 
life  !'  Luke  14  :  26.  Lord,  it  is  hard  to  flesh  and 
blood ;  and  yet  I  perceive  and  feel  there  is  one  de- 
mand yet  harder  than  this. 

"  With  all  these  precautions,  with  all  these  morti- 
fications, the  pride  of  my  nature  would  find  some  in- 
ward resource  of  pleasure,  might  I  but  secretly  think 
that  I  had  been  my  own  saviour,  that  my  own  wis- 
dom and  my  own  resolution  had  broken  the  bands 
and  chains  of  the  enemy,  and  that  I  had  drawn  out 
of  my  own  treasures  the  price  with  which  my  re- 
demption was  purchased.  But  must  I  lie  down  before 
another,  as  guilty  and  condemned,  as  weak  and  help- 
less ?  And  must  the  obligation  be  multiplied,  and 
must  a  Mediator  have  this  share  too  ?  Must  I  go  to 
the  cross  for  my  salvation,  and  seek  my  glory  from 
the  infamy  of  that  ?  Must  I  be  stripped  of  every 
pleasing  pretence  to  righteousness,  and  stand,  in. 
this  respect,  upon  a  level  with  the  vilest  of  men  ; 
stand  at  the  bar  amongst  the  greatest  criminals, 
pleading  guilty  with  them,  and  seeking  deliverance 
by  that  very  act  of  grace  whereby  they  have  ob- 
tained it  ? 


SINNER  DELIBERATING.  135 

"  I  dare  not  deliberately  say  this  method  is  unrea- 
sonable. My  conscience  testifies  that  I  have  sinned, 
and  cannot  be  justified  before  God  as  an  innocent 
and  obedient  creature.  My  conscience  tells  me,  that 
all  these  humbling  circumstances  are  fit ;  that  it  is 
fit  a  convicted  criminal  should  be  brought  upon  his 
knees ;  that  a  captive  rebel  should  give  up  the 
weapons  of  his  rebellion,  and  bow  before  his  sover- 
eign, if  he  expects  his  life.  Yea,  my  reason,  as  well 
as  my  conscience,  tells  me  that  it  is  fit  and  necessary 
that,  if  I  am  saved  at  all,  I  should  be  saved  from  the 
power  and  love  of  sin,  as  well  as  from  the  condem- 
nation of  it ;  and  that,  if  sovereign  mercy  gives  me 
a  new  life,  after  having  deserved  eternal  death,  it  is 
most  fit  I  should  '  yield  myself  to  God  as  alive  from 
the  dead.'  Rom.  6:13.  But,  '  0  wretched  man 
that  I  am,  I  feel  a  law  in  my  members  that  wars 
against  the  law  of  my  mind,'  Rom.  7  :  23,  24,  and 
opposes  the  conviction  of  my  reason  and  conscience. 
Who  shall  deliver  me  from  this  bondage  ?  Who 
shall  make  me  willing  to  do  that  which  I  know  in 
my  own  soul  to  be  most  expedient  ?  0  Lord,  subdue 
my  heart,  and  let  it  not  be  drawn  so  strongly  one 
way,  while  the  nobler  powers  of  my  mind  would  di- 
rect it  another.  Conquer  every  licentious  principle 
within,  that  it  may  be  my  joy  to  be  so  wisely  gov- 
erned and  restrained.  Especially,  subdue  my  pride, 
that  lordly  corruption  which  so  ill  suits  an  impover- 


136  RISE   AND    PROGRESS. 

ished  and  condemned  creature,  that  thy  way  of  sal- 
vation may  be  made  amiable  to  me  in  proportion  to 
the  degree  in  which  it  is  humbling.  I  feel  a  dispo- 
sition to  '  linger  in  Sodom,  but  0  be  merciful  to  me, 
and  pull  me  out  of  it,'  Gen.  19  :  16,  before  the  storm 
of  thy  flaming  vengeance  fall,  and  there  be  no  more 
escaping." 


THE   SINNER   ENTREATED.  137 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   SINNER    SERIOUSLY   URGED   AND    ENTREATED    TO 
ACCEPT  OF  SALVATION  IN  THIS  WAY. 

1.  Since  many  who  have  been  impressed  with  these  things, 
suffer  the  impression  to  wear  off. — 2.  Strongly  as  the  case 
speaks  for  itself,  sinners  are  to  be  entreated  to  accept  this  sal- 
vation.—3.  Accordingly  the  reader  is  entreated — by  the  maj- 
esty and  mercy  of  God. — 4.  By  the  dying  love  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. — 5.  By  the  regard  due  to  our  fellow-creatures. — 
6.  By  the  worth  of  his  own  immortal  soul. — 7.  The  matter  is 
solemnly  left  with  the  reader,  as  before  God.  The  sinner 
yielding  to  these  entreaties,  and  declaring  his  acceptance  of 
salvation  by  Christ. 

1.  THUS  far  have  I  often  known  convictions  and 
impressions  to  arise — if  I  might  judge  by  the  strong- 
est appearances — which,  after  all,  have  worn  off 
again.  Some  unhappy  circumstance  of  external 
temptation,  ever  joined  by  the  inward  reluctance  of 
an  unsanctified  heart  to  this  holy  and  humbling 
scheme  of  redemption,  has  been  the  ruin  of  multi- 
tudes. And  "  through  the  deceitfulness  of  sin,  they 
have  been  hardened,"  Heb.  3  :  13,  till  they  seem  to 
have  been  "  utterly  destroyed,  and  that  without  rem- 
edy." Prov.  29  :  1.  And  therefore,  0  thou  immor- 
tal creature  who  art  now  reading  these  lines,  I  be- 
seech thee,  that  while  affairs  are  in  this  critical  situ- 


138  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

ation,  while  there  are  these  balancings  of  mind  be- 
tween accepting  and  rejecting  that  glorious  Gospel, 
which,  in  the  integrity  of  my  heart,  I  have  now  been 
laying  before  you,  you  would  once  more  give  me  an 
attentive  audience  while  I  plead,  in  God's  behalf 
shall  T  say,  or  rather  in  your  own  ?  while,  "  as  an 
ambassador  for  Christ,  and  as  though  God  did  be- 
seech you  by  me,  I  pray  you  in  Christ's  stead,  that 
you  would  be  reconciled  to  God,"  2  Cor.  5  :  20,  and 
would  not,  after  these  awakenings  and  these  inqui- 
ries, by  a  madness  which  it  will  surely  be  the  dole- 
ful business  of  a  miserable  eternity  to  lament,  reject 
this  compassionate  counsel  of  God  towards  you. 

2.  One  would  indeed  imagine  there  should  be  no 
need  of  importunity  here.  One  would  conclude,  that 
as  soon  as  perishing  sinners  are  told  that  an  offended 
God  is  ready  to  be  reconciled,  that  he  offers  them  a 
full  pafdon  for  all  their  aggravated  sins,  yea,  that  he 
is  willing  to  adopt  them  into  his  family  now,  that  he 
may  at  length  admit  them  to  his  heavenly  presence ; 
all  should,  with  the  utmost  readiness  and  pleasure, 
embrace  so  kind  a  message,  and  fall  at  his  feet  in 
speechless  transports  of  astonishment,  gratitude,  and 
joy.  But,  alas,  we  find  it  much  otherwise.  We  see 
multitudes  quite  unmoved,  and  the  impressions  which 
are  made  on  many  more  are  feeble  and  transient. 
Lest  it  should  be  thus  with  you,  0  reader,  let  me 
urge  the  message  with  which  I  have  the  honor  to 


THE  SINNER  ENTREATED.  139 

be  charged ;  let  me  entreat  you  to  be  reconciled  to 
God,  and  to  accept  of  pardon  and  salvation  in  the 
way  in  which  it  is  so  freely  offered  to  you. 

3.  I  entreat  you,  "by  the  majesty  of  that  God  in 
whose  name  I  come,"  whose  voice  fills  all  heaven 
with  reverence  and  obedience.     He  speaks  not  in 
vain  to  legions  of  angels  ;  but  if  there  could  be  any 
contention  among  those  blessed  spirits,  it  would  be, 
who  should  be  first  to  execute  his  commands.     0 
let  him  not  speak  in  vain  to  a  wretched  mortal.     I 
entreat  you,  "  by  the  terrors  of  his  wrath,"  who  could 
speak  to  you  in  thunder ;  who  could,  by  one  single 
act  of  his  will,  cut  off  this  precarious  life  of  yours, 
and  send  you  down  to  hell.     I  beseech  you  by  his 
mercies,  by  his  tender  mercies,  by  the  bowels  of  his 
compassion,  which  still  yearn  over  you  as  those  of  a 
parent  over  "  a  dear  son,"  over  a  tender  child,  whom, 
notwithstanding  his  former  ungrateful  rebellion,  "  he 
earnestly  remembers  still."    Jer.  31  :  2.0.    I  beseech 
and  entreat  you,  "by  all  this  paternal  goodness," 
that  you  do  not,  as  it  were,  compel  him  to  lose  the 
character  of  the  gentle  Parent  in  that  of  the  right- 
eous Judge  ;  so  that,  as  he  threatens  with  regard 
to  those  whom  he  had  just  called  his  sons  and  his 
daughters,  "  a  fire  shall  be  kindled  in  his  anger, 
which   shall   burn   unto  the   lowest  hell."     Deut. 
32  :  19,  22. 

4.  I  beseech  you  further,  "  by  the  name  and  love 


140  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

of  your  dying  Saviour."  I  beseech,  you  by  all  the 
condescension  of  his  incarnation,  by  that  poverty  to 
which  he  voluntarily  submitted,  "  that  you  might  be 
enriched  "  with  eternal  treasures,  2  Cor.  8  :  9  ;  by 
all  the  gracious  invitations  which  he  gave,  which 
still  sound  in  his  word,  and  still  coming,  as  it  were, 
warm  from  his  heart,  are  "  sweeter  than  honey,  01 
the  honey-comb."  Psalm  19:10.  I  beseech  you  by 
all  his  glorious  works  of  power  and  of  wonder,  which 
were  also  works  of  love.  I  beseech  you  by  the  mem- 
ory of  the  most  benevolent  person  and  the  most  gen- 
erous friend.  I  beseech  you  by  the  memory  of  what 
he  suffered,  as  well  as  of  what  he  said  and  did ;  by 
the  agony  which  he  endured  in  the  garden  when  his 
body  was  covered  "  with  a  dew  of  blood."  Luke 
22  :  44  I  beseech  you  by  all  that  tender  distress 
which  he  felt  when  his  dearest  friends  "  forsook  him 
and  fled,"  Matt.  26  :  56,  and  his  bloodthirsty  enemies 
dragged  him  away  like  the'  meanest  of  slaves,  and 
like  the  vilest  of  criminals.  I  beseech  you  by  the 
blows  and  bruises,  by  the  stripes  and  lashes  which 
this  injured  Sovereign  endured  while  in  their  rebel- 
lious hands ;  by  the  shame  of  spitting,  from  which 
he  hid  not  that  kind  and  venerable  countenance. 
Isa.  50  :  6.  I  beseech  you  by  the  purple  robe,  the 
sceptre  of  reed,  and  the  crown  of  thorns  which  this 
King  of  glory  wore,  that  he  might  set  us  among  the 
princes  of  heaven.  Psalm  113  :  8,  I  beseech  you 


THE  SINNER   ENTREATED.        >  141 

by  the  heavy  burden  of  "  the  cross,"  under  which  he 
panted,  and  toiled,  and  fainted,  in  the  painful  way 
"  to  Golgotha,"  John  19  :  17,  that  he  might  free  us 
from  the  burden  of  our  sins.  I  beseech  you  by  the 
remembrance  of  those  rude  nails  that  tore  the  veins 
and  arteries,  the  nerves  and  tendons  of  his  sacred 
hands  and  feet ;  and  by  that  invincible,  that  trium- 
phant goodness,  which,  while  the  iron  pierced  his 
flesh,  engaged  him  to  cry  out,  "  Father,  forgive  them, 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do."  Luke  23  :  34. 
I  beseech  you  by  that  unutterable  anguish  which  he 
bore  when  lifted  up  upon  the  cross,  and  extended 
there,  as  on  a  rack,  for  six  painful  hours,  that  you 
open  your  heart  to  those  attractive  influences  which 
have  "  drawn  to  him  thousands  and  ten  thousands." 
John  12  :  32.  I  beseech  you  by  all  that  insult  and 
derision  which  the  "Lord  of  glory  bore  there,"  Matt. 
27  :  29-44  ;  by  that  parching  thirst  which  could 
hardly  obtain  the  relief  of  "vinegar,"  John  19  :  28, 
29  ;  by  that  doleful  cry  so  astonishing  in  the  mouth 
of  the  only-begotten  of  the  Father,  "  My  God,  my 
God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?"  Matt.  27  :  46. 
I  beseech  you  by  that  grace  that  subdued  and  par- 
doned "  a  dying  malefactor,"  Luke  23  :  42,  43  ;  by 
that  compassion  for  sinners,  by  that  compassion  for 
you,  which  wrought  in  his  heart,  long  as  its  vital 
motion  continued,  and  which  ended  not  when  "  he 
bowed  his  head,  saying,  It  is  finished,  and  gave  up 


142  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

the  ghost."  John  19  :  30.  I  beseech  you  by  the 
triumphs  of  that  resurrection  by  which  he  was  "  de- 
clared to  be  the  Son  of  God  with  power ;"  by  the 
spirit  of  holiness  which  wrought  to  accomplish  it, 
Romans  1:4;  by  that  gracious  tenderness  which 
attempered  all  those  triumphs,  when  he  said  to  her 
out  of  whom  he  had  cast  seven  devils,  concerning 
his  disciples  who  had  treated  him  so  basely,  "  Go, 
tell  my  brethren,  I  ascend  unto  my  Father  and  your 
Father,  unto  my  God  and  your  God."  John  20  :  17. 
I  beseech  you  by  that  condescension  with  which  he 
said  to  Thomas,  when  his  unbelief  had  made  such 
an  unreasonable  demand,  "  Reach  hither  thy  finger, 
and  behold  mine  hands  ;  and  reach  hither  thine 
hand,  and  thrust  it  into  my  side ;  and  be  not  faith- 
less, but  believing."  John  20  :  27.  I  beseech  you 
by  that  generous  and  faithful  care  of  his  people, 
which  he  carried  up  with  him  to  the  regions  of 
glory,  and  which  engaged  him  to  send  down  "  his 
Spirit,"  in  that  rich  profusion  of  miraculous  gifts,  to 
spread  the  progress  of  his  saving  word.  Acts  2  :  33. 
I  beseech  you  by  that  voice  of  sympathy  and  power 
with  which  he  said  to  Saul,  while  injuring  his 
church,  "Saul,  Saul,  why  persecutest  thou  me?" 
Acts  9:4;  by  that  generous  goodness  which  spared 
that  prostrate  enemy  when  he  lay  trembling  at  his 
feet,  and  raised  him  to  so  high  a  dignity  as  to  be 
"not  inferior  to  the  very  chiefest  apostles."  2  Cor. 


THE   SINNER  ENTREATED.  143 

12:11  I  beseech  you  by  the  memory  of  all  that 
Christ  hath  already  done  ;  by  the  expectation  of  all 
he  will  farther  do  for  his  people.  I  beseech  you,  at 
once,  by  the  sceptre  of  his  grace,  and  by  that  sword 
of  his  justice  with  which  all  his  incorrigible  "  ene- 
mies" shall  be  "slain  before  him,"  Luke  19  :  20, 
that  you  do  not  trifle  away  these  precious  moments 
while  his  Spirit  is  thus  breathing  upon  you ;  that 
you  do  not  lose  an  opportunity  which  may  never 
return,  and  on  the  improvement  of  which  your  eter- 
nity depends. 

5.  I  beseech  you  "by  all  the  bowels  of  compassion 
which  you  owe  to  the  faithful  ministers  of  Christ," 
who  are  studying  and  laboring,  preaching  and  pray- 
ing, wearing  out  their  time,  exhausting  their  strength, 
and  very  probably  shortening  their  lives,  for  the  sal- 
vation of  your  soul,  and  of  souls  like  yours.  I  be- 
seech you  by  the  affection  with  which  all  that  love 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity  long  to  see  you 
brought  back  to  him.  I  beseech  you  by  the  friend- 
ship of  the  living,  and  by  the  memory  of  the  dead, 
by  the  ruin  of  those  who  have  trifled  away  their 
days  and  perished  in  their  sins,  and  by  the  happiness 
of  those  who  have  embraced  the  Gospel,  and  are 
saved  by  it.  I  beseech  you  by*the  great  expectation 
of  that  important  "day,  when  the  Lord  Jesus  shall 
be  revealed  from  heaven,"  2  Thess.  1  : 7 ;  by  "  the 
terrors  of  a  dissolving  world,"  2  Pet.  3:10;  by  the 


144  RISE   AND    PROGRESS. 

"sound  of  the  archangel's  trumpet,"  1  Thess.  4  :  16; 
and  of  that  infinitely  more  awful  sentence,  "Come, 
ye  blessed,"  and  "  Depart,  ye  cursed,"  with  which 
that  grand  solemnity  shall  close.  Matt.  25  :  34,  41. 

6.  I  beseech  you,  finally,  by  your  own  precious 
and  immortal  soul ;  by  the  sure  prospect  of  a  dying 
bed.  or  of  a  sudden  surprise  into  the  invisible  state ; 
and  as  you  would  feel  one  spark  of  comfort  in  your 
departing  spirit,  when  your  flesh  and  your  heart  are 
failing.    I  beseech  you,  by  your  own  personal  appear- 
ance before  the  tribunal  of  Christ — for  a  personal 
appearance  it  must  be,  even  to  them  who  now  sit  on 
thrones  of  their  own — by  all  the  transports  of  the 
blessed,  and  by  all  the  agonies  of  the  damned,  the 
one  or  the  other  of  which  must  be  your  everlasting 
portion.     I  affectionately  entreat  and  beseech  you,  in 
the  strength  of  all  these  united  considerations,  as 
you  will  answer  it  to  me,  who  may  in  that  day  be 
summoned  to  testify  against  you ;  and,  which  is  un- 
speakably more,  as  you  will  answer  it  to  your  con- 
science, as  you  will  answer  it  to  the  eternal  Judge, 
that  you  dismiss  not  these  thoughts,  these  medita- 
tions, and  these  cares,  till  you  have  brought  matters 
to  a  happy  issue ;  till  you  have  made  resolute  choice 
of  Christ,  and  his  appointed  way  of  salvation ;  and 
till  you  have  solemnly  devoted  yourself  to  God  in  the 
bonds  of  an  everlasting  covenant. 

7.  And  thus  I  leave  the  matter  before  you,  and 


SINNER  YIELDING  TO  ENTREATIES.        14.5 

before  the  Lord.  I  have  told  you  my  errand ;  I  have 
discharged  my  embassy.  Stronger  arguments  I  can- 
not use;  more  endearing  and  more  awful  considera- 
tions I  cannot  suggest.  Choose,  therefore,  whether 
you  will  go  out,  as  it  were  clothed  in  sackcloth,  to 
cast  yourself  at  the  feet  of  him  who  now  sends  you 
these  equitable  and  gracious  terms  of  peace  and  par- 
don ;  or  whether  you  will  hold  it  out  till  he  appears 
sword  in  hand  to  reckon  with  you  for  your  treasons 
and  your  crimes,  and  for  this  neglected  embassy 
among  the  rest  of  them.  Fain  would  I  hope  the 
best ;  nor  can  I  believe  that  this  labor  of  love  shall 
be  so  entirely  unsuccessful,  that  not  one  soul  shall 
be  brought  to  the  foot  of  Christ  in  cordial  submission 
and  humble  faith.  "Take  with  you,"  therefore, 
" words,  and  turn  unto  the  Lord,"  Hos.  14  :  2;  and 
0  that  those  which  follow  might,  in  effect  at  least, 
be  the  genuine  language  of  every  one  that  reads 
them. 

THE  SINNER  YIELDING  TO  THESE  ENTREATIES,  AND  DE- 
CLARING HIS  ACCEPTANCE  OF  SALVATION  BY  CHRIST. 

"  Blessed  Lord,  it  is  enough.  It  is  too  much. 
Surely  there  needs  not  this  variety  of  arguments, 
this  importunity  of  persuasion,  to  court  me  to  be 
happy,  to  prevail  on  me  to  accept  of  pardon,  of  life 
of  eternal  glory.  Compassionate  Saviour,  my  soul  k 
subdued ;  so  that  I  trust  the  language  of  thy  grief  i£ 
become  that  of  my  penitence,  and  I  may  say,  *  1113 

Rue  and  Prog.  1 0 


146  RISE   AND    PROGRESS. 

heart  is  melted  like  wax  in  the  midst  of  my  bowels.' 
Psa.  22  :  14. 

"0  gracious  Redeemer,  I  have  already  neglected 
thee  too  long.  I  have  too  often  injured  thee;  have 
crucified  thee  afresh  by  my  guilt  and  impenitence,  as 
if  I  had  taken  pleasure  in  'putting  thee  to  an  open 
shame.'  Heb.  6:6.  But  my  heart  now  bows  itself 
before  thee  in  humble,  unfeigned  submission.  I  de- 
sire to  make  no  terms  with  thee  but  these — rthat  I 
may  be  entirely  thine.  I  cheerfully  present  thee  with 
a  blank,  entreating  thee  that  thou  wilt  do  me  the 
honor  to  signify  upon  it  what  is  thy  pleasure.  Teach 
me,  0  Lord,  what  thou  wouldst  have  me  to  do;  for 
I  desire  to  learn  the  lesson,  and  to  learn  it  that  I  may 
practise  it.  If  it  be  more  than  my  feeble  powers  can 
answer,  thou  wilt,  I  hope,  give  me  more  strength ; 
and  in  that  strength  I  will  serve  thee.  0  receive  a 
soul  which  thou  hast  made  willing  to  be  thine. 

"  No  more,  0  blessed  Jesus,  no  more  is  it  neces- 
sary to  beseech  and  entreat  me.  Permit  me  rather 
to  address  myself  to  thee,  with  all  the  importunity  of 
a  perishing  sinner,  that  at  length  sees  and  knows 
'there  is  salvation  in  no  other.'  Acts  4  :  12.  Per- 
mit me  now,  Lord,  to  come  and  throw  myself  at  thy 
feet  like  a  helpless  outcast  that  has  no  shelter  but  in 
thy  gracious  compassion ;  like  one  '  pursued  by  the 
avenger  of  blood,'  and  seeking  earnestly  an  admit 
tance  'into  the  city  of  refuge.'  Josh.  20  : 2,  3. 


SINNER   YIELDING  TO   ENTREATIES.         14? 

"  '  I  wait  for  the  Lord ;  my  soul  doth  wait ;  and 
m  thy  word  do  I  hope,'  Psa.  130  :  5,  that  thou  wilt 
1  receive  me  graciously.'  Hos.  14  :  2.  My  soul  con- 
fides in  thy  goodness,  and  adores  it.  I  adore  the 
patience  which  has  borne  with  me  so  long,  and  the 
grace  that  now  makes  me  heartily  willing  to  be  thine — 
to  be  thine  on  thine  own  terms,  thine  on  any  terms. 

0  secure  this  treacherous  heart  to  thyself.     0  unite 
me  to  thee  in  such  inseparable  bonds,  that  none  of  the 
allurements  of  flesh  and  blood,  none  of  the  vanities 
of  an  ensnaring  world,  none  of  the  solicitations  of 
sinful  companions,  may  draw  me  back  from  thee,  and 
plunge  me  into  new  guilt  and  ruin.     *  Be  surety,  0 
Lord,  for  thy  servant  for 'good,'  Psa.  119  : 122,  that 

1  may  still  keep  my  hold  on  thee,  and  so  on  eternal 
life;  till  at  length  I  know  more  fully,  by  joyful  and 
everlasting  experience,  how  complete  a  Saviour  thou 
art.     Amen." 


U8  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

A  SOLEMN  ADDRESS  TO  THOSE  WHO  WILL  NOT  BE  PER- 
SUADED TO  FALL  IN  WITH  THE  DESIGN  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

1.  Universal  success  not  to  be  expected. — 2-4.  Yet,  as  un- 
willing absolutely  to  give  up  any,  the  author  addresses  those 
who  doubt  the  truth  of  Christianity,  urging  an  inquiry  into 
its  evidences,  and  directing  to  proper  methods  for  that  pur- 
pose.— 5.  Those  who  determine  to  give  it  up  without  further 
examination. — 6.  And  presume  to  set  themselves  to  oppose 
it. — 7,  8.  Those  who  speculatively  assent  to  Christianity  as 
true,  and  yet  will  sit  down  without  any  practical  regard  to  its 
most  important  and  acknowledged  truths.  Such  are  dismissed 
with  a  representation  of  the  absurdity  of  their  conduct  on  their 
own  principles. — 9,  10.  With  a  solemn  warning  of  its  fatal 
consequences. — 11.  And  a  compassionate  prayer,  which  con- 
cludes this  chapter,  and  this  part  of  the  work. 

1 .  I  WOULD  humbly  hope  that  the  preceding  chap- 
ters will  be  the  means  of  awakening  some  stupid  and 
insensible  sinners,  the  means  of  convincing  them  of 
their  need  of  gospel-salvation,  and  of  engaging  some 
cordially  to  accept  it.  Yet  I  cannot  flatter  myself  so 
far  as  to  hope  this  should  be  the  case  with  regard  to 
all  into  whose  hands  this  book  shall  come.  "What 
am  I,  alas,  better  than  my  fathers,"  1  Kings,  19:4, 
or  better  than  my  brethren,  who  have  in  all  ages 
been  repeating  their  complaint,  with  regard  to  mul- 
titudes, that  they  "have  stretched  out  their  hand  all 


APPEAL  TO  THE  DOUBTING.  149 

daylong  to  a  disobedient  and  gainsaying  people?" 
Rom.  10  :  21.  Many  such  may  perhaps  be  found  in 
the  number  of  my  readers ;  many,  on  whom  neither 
considerations  of  terror  nor  of  love  will  make  any 
deep  and  lasting  impression ;  many,  who,  as  our  Lord 
learned  by  experience  to  express  it,  "when  we  pipe 
to  them,  will  not  dance ;  and  when  we  mourn  unto 
them,  will  not  lament."  Matt.  11  :  17.  I  can  say 
no  more  to  persuade  them,  if  they  make  light  of 
what  I  have  already  said.  Here,  therefore,  we  must 
part :  in  this  chapter  I  must  take  my  leave  of  them ; 
and  0  that  I  could  do  it  in  such  a  manner  as  to  fix, 
at  parting,  some  conviction  upon  their  hearts,  that 
though  I  seem  to  leave  them  for  a  little  while,  and 
send  them  back  to  review  again  the  former  chapters, 
as  those  in  which  alone  they  have  any  present  con- 
cern, they  might  soon,  as  it  were,  overtake  me  again, 
and  find  a  suitableness  in  ,the  remaining  part  of  this 
treatise,  which  at  present  they  cannot  possibly  find. 
Unhappy  creatures,  I  quit  you  as  a  physician  quits  a 
patient  whom  he  loves,  and  is  just  about  to  give  over 
as  incurable :  he  returns  again  and  again,  and  re- 
examines  the  several  symptoms,  to  observe  whether 
there  be  not  some  one  of  them  more  favorable  than 
the  rest,  which  may  encourage  a  renewed  applica- 
tion. 

2    So  would  I  once  more  return  to  you.     You  do 
not  find  in  yourself  any  disposition  to  embrace  the 


150  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

Gospel,  to  apply  yourself  to  Christ,  to  give  yourself 
up  to  the  service  of  God,  and  to  make  religion  the 
business  of  your  life.  But  if  I  cannot  prevail  upon 
you  to  do  this,  let  me  engage  you,  at  least,  to  answer 
me,  or  rather  to  answer  your  own  conscience,  "Why 
you  will  not  do  it?"  Is  it  owing  to  any  secret  dis- 
belief of  the  great  principles  of  religion  ?  If  it  be, 
the  case  is  different  from  what  I  have  yet  considered, 
and  the  cure  must  be  different.  This  is  not  a  place 
to  combat  with  the  scruples  of  infidelity.  Neverthe- 
less, I  would  desire  you  seriously  to  inquire  "  How 
far  those  scruples  extend?"  Do  they  affect  any  par- 
ticular doctrine  of  the  Gospel  on  which  my  argument 
hath  turned ;  or  do  they  affect  the  whole  Christian 
revelation  ?  Or  do  they  reach  yet  farther,  and  extend 
themselves  to  natural  religion,  as  well  as  revealed ; 
so  that  it  should  be  a  doubt  with  you,  whether  there 
be  any  God,  and  providence,  and  future  state,  or  not  ? 
As  these  cases  are  all  different,  so  it  will  be  of  great 
importance  to  distinguish  the  one  from  the  other ; 
that  you  may  know  on  what  principles  to  build  as 
certain,  in  the  examination  of  those  concerning  which 
you  are  yet  in  doubt.  But,  whatever  these  doubts 
are,  I  would  farther  ask  you,  "How  long  have  they 
continued,  and  what  method  have  you  taken  to  get 
them  resolved?"  Do  you  imagine,  that,  in  matters 
of  such  moment,  it  will  be  an  allowable  case  for  you 
to  trifle  on,  neglecting  to  inquire  into  the  evidence  of 


APPEAL    TO    THE    DOUBTING.  151 

these  things,  and  then  plead  your  not  being  satisfied 
in  that  evidence,  as  an  excuse  for  not  acting  according 
to  them  ?  Must  not  the  principles  of  common  sense 
assure  you,  that  if  these  things  be  true,  as  when  you 
talk  of  doubting  about  them,  you  acknowledge  it  at 
least  possible  they  may  be,  they  are  of  infinitely 
greater  importance  than  any  of  the  affairs  of  life, 
whether  of  business  or  pleasure,  for  the  sake  of  which 
you  neglect  them  ?  Why  then  do  you  continue  in- 
dolent and  unconcerned,  from  week  to  week,  and 
from  month  to  month,  which  probably  conscience 
tells  you  is  the  case  ? 

3.  Do  you  ask,  "What  method  you  should  take  to 
be  resolved?"  It  is  no  hard  question.  Open  your 
eyes ;  set  yourself  to  think ;  let  conscience  speak, 
and  verily  do  I  believe,  that  if  it  be  not  seared  in  an 
uncommon  degree,  you  will  find  shrewd  forebodings 
of  the  certainty  both  of  natural  and  revealed  religion, 
and  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  repentance,  faith,  and 
holiness,  to  a  life  of  future  felicity.  If  you  are  a  per- 
son of  any  learning,  you  cannot  but  know  by  what 
writers,  and  in  what  treatises,  these  great  truths  are 
defended.  And  if  you  are  not,  you  may  find,  in  al- 
most every  town  and  neighborhood,  persons  capable 
of  informing  you  in  the  main  evidences  of  Christian- 
ity, and  of  answering  such  scruples  against  it  as  un- 
learned minds  may  have  met  with.  Set  yourself, 
then,  in  the  name  of  God,  immediately  to  consider 


159  RISE    AND   PROGRESS. 

the  matter.  If  you  study  at  all,  bend  your  studies 
close  this  way,  and  trifle  not  with  mathematics,  or 
poetry,  or  history,  or  law,  or  physic,  which  are  all 
comparatively  light  as  a  feather,  while  you  neglect 
this.  Study  the  argument  as  for  your  life  ;  for  much 
more  than  life  depends  on  it.  See  how  far  you  are 
satisfied,  and  why  that  satisfaction  reaches  no  far- 
ther. Compare  evidences  on  both  sides.  And,  above 
all,  consider  the  design  and  tendency  of  the  New 
Testament.  See  to  what  it  will  lead  you,  and  all 
them  that  cordially  obey  it,  and  then  say  whether  it 
be  not  good.  And  consider  how  naturally  its  truth 
is  connected  with  its  goodness.  Trace  the  character 
and  sentiments  of  its  authors,  whose  living  image,  if 
I  may  be  allowed  the  expression,  is  still  preserved  in 
their  writings ;  and  then  ask  your  heart,  can  you 
think  this  was  a  forgery,  an  impious,  cruel  forgery — 
for  such  it  must  have  been,  if  it  were  a  forgery  at 
all— a  scheme  to  mock  God,  and  to  ruin  men,  even 
the  best  of  men,  such  as  reverenced  conscience,  and 
would  abide  all  extremities  for  what  they  appre- 
hended to  be  truth.  Put  the  question  to  your  own 
heart,  Can  I  in  my  conscience  believe  it  to  be  such 
an  imposture  ?  Can  I  look  up  to  an  omniscient 
God,  and  say,  "  0  Lord,  thou  knowest  that  it  is  in 
reverence  to  thee,  and  in  love  to  truth  and  virtue, 
that  I  reject  this  book,  and  the  method  to  happiness 
here  laid  down." 


APPEAL  TO  THE  DOUBTING.  153 

4.  But  there  are  difficulties  in  the  way.     And 
what   then  ?     Have   those    difficulties   never   been 
cleared  ?    Go  to  the  living  advocates  for  Christianity, 
to  those  of  whose  abilities,  candor,  and  piety,  you 
have  the  best  opinion,  if  your  prejudices  will  give 
you  leave  to  have  a  good  opinion  of  any  such ;  tell 
them  your  difficulties ;  hear  their  solutions ;  weigh 
them  seriously,  as  those  who  know  they  must  answer 
it  to  God ;  and  while  doubts  continue,  follow  the 
truth  as  far  as  it  will  lead  you,  and  take  heed  that 
you  do  not  "  imprison  it  in  unrighteousness."     Rom. 
1:18.     Nothing  appears  more  inconsistent  and  ab- 
surd than  for  a  man  solemnly  to  pretend  dissatisfac- 
tion in  the  evidences  of  the  gospel,  as  a  reason  why 
he  cannot  in  conscience  be  a  thorough  Christian ; 
when  at  the  same  time  he  violates  the  most  apparent 
dictates  of  reason  and  conscience,  and  lives  in  vices 
condemned  even  by  the  heathen.     0  sirs,  Christ  has 
judged  concerning  such,  and  judged  most  righteously 
and  most  wisely  :  "They  do  evil,  and  therefore  they 
hate  the  light ;  neither  come  they  to  the  light,  lest 
their  deeds  should  be  made  manifest,  and  be  re- 
proved."   John  3  : 20.    But  there  is  a  light  that  will 
make  manifest  and  reprove  their  works,  to  which 
they  will  be  compelled  to  come,  and  the  painful 
scrutiny  of  wnich  they  shall  be  forced  to  abide. 

5.  In  the  meantime,  if  you  are  determined  to  in- 
quire no  farther  into  the  matter  now,  give  me  leave, 


154  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

at  least,  from  a  sincere  concern  that  you  may  not 
heap  upon  your  head  more  aggravated  ruin,  to  en- 
treat you  that  you  would  be  cautious  how  you  expose 
yourself  to  yet  greater  danger,  by  what  you  must 
yourself  own  to  be  unnecessary  ;  I  mean,  attempts  to 
prevent  others  from  believing  the  truth  of  the  gospel. 
Leave  them,  for  God's  sake,  and  for  your  own,  in 
possession  of  those  pleasures  and  those  hopes  which 
nothing  but  Christianity  can  give  them  ;  and  act  not 
as  if  you  were  solicitous  to  add  to  the  guilt  of  an 
infidel  the  tenfold  damnation  which  they,  who  have 
been  the  perverters  and  destroyers  of  the  souls  of 
others,  must  expect  to  meet,  if  that  gospel,  which 
they  have  so  adventurously  opposed,  shall  prove,  as  it 
certainly  will,  a  serious,  and  to  them  a  dreadful  truth. 
6.  If  I  cannot  prevail  here — but  the  pride  of  dis- 
playing a  superiority  of  understanding  should  bear 
on  such  a  reader,  even  in  opposition  to  his  own  fa- 
vorite maxims  of  the  innocence  of  error,  and  the 
equality  of  all  religions  consistent  with  social  virtue, 
to  do  his  utmost  to  trample  down  the  gospel  with 
contempt — I  would,  however,  dismiss  him  with  one 
proposal,  which  I  think  the  importance  of  the  affair 
may  fully  justify.  If  you  have  done  with  your  exam- 
ination into  Christianity,  and  determine  to  live  and 
conduct  yourself  as  if  it  were  assuredly  false,  sit  down, 
then,  and  make  a  memorandum  of  that  determina- 
tion. Write  it  down : 


APPEAL  TO  THE  DOUBTING.  155 

"  On  such,  a  day  of  such  a  year,  I  deliberately  re- 
solved that  I  would  live  and  die  rejecting  Christianity 
myself,  and  doing  all  I  could  to  overthrow  it.  This 
day  I  determined,  not  only  to  renounce  all  subjection 
to,  and  expectation  from  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  but  also 
to  make  it  a  serious  part  of  the  business  of  my  life 
to  destroy,  as  far  as  I  possibly  can,  all  regard  to  him 
in  the  minds  of  others,  and  to  exert  my  most  vigor- 
ous efforts,  in  the  way  of  reasoning  or  of  ridicule,  to 
sink  the  credit  of  his  religion,  and,  if  it  be  possible, 
to  root  it  out  of  the  world  ;  in  calm,  steady  defiance 
of  that  day,  when  his  followers  say  He  shall  appear 
in  so  much  majesty  and  terror,  to  execute  the  ven- 
geance threatened  to  his  enemies." 

Dare  you  write  this,  and  sign  it  ?  I  firmly  believe 
that  many  a  man,  who  would  be  thought  a  Deist, 
and  endeavors  to  increase  the  number,  would  not. 
And  if  you  in  particular  dare  not  do  it,  whence  does 
that  small  remainder  of  caution  arise  ?  The  cause 
is  plain.  There  is  in  your  conscience  some  secret 
apprehension  that  this  rejected,  this  opposed,  this  de- 
rided gospel  may,  after  all,  prove  true.  And  if  there 
be  such  an  apprehension,  then  let  conscience  do  its 
office,  and  convict  you  of  the  impious  madness  of  act- 
ing as  if  it  were  most  certainly  and  demonstrably 
false.  Let  it  tell  you  at  large,  how  possible  it  is  that 
"  haply  you  may  be  found  fighting  against  God," 
Acts  5  :  39 ;  that,  bold  as  yoji  are  in  defying  the 


156  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

terrors  of  the  Lord,  you  may  possibly  fall  into  his 
hands — may  chance  to  hear  that  despised  sentence, 
which,  when  you  hear  it  from  the  mouth  of  the  eter- 
nal Judge,  you  will  not  be  able  to  despise.  I  will 
repeat  it  again,  in  spite  of  all  your  scorn  :  you  may 
hear  the  King  say  to  you,  "  Depart,  accursed,  into 
everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels." 
Matt.  25  :  41.  And  now,  go  and  pervert,  and  bur- 
lesque the  Scripture  ;  go  and  satirize  the  character  of 
its  heroes,  and  ridicule  the  sublime  discourses  of  its 
prophets  and  its  apostles,  as  some  have  done,  who 
have  left  behind  them  but  the  short-lived  monu- 
ments of  their  ignorance,  their  profaneness,  and  their 
malice.  Go  and  spread,  like  them,  the  banners  of 
infidelity,  and  pride  thyself  in  the  number  of  credu- 
lous creatures  listed  under  them.  But  take  heed  lest 
the  insulted  Galilean  direct  a  secret  arrow  to  thine 
heart,  and  stop  thy  licentious  breath  before  it  has 
finished  the  next  sentence  thou  wouldst  utter  against 
him. 

7.  I  will  turn  myself  from  the  Deist  or  the  sceptic, 
and  direct  my  address  to  the  nominal  Christian — if 
he  may  upon  any  terms  be  called  a  Christian,  who 
feels  not,  after  all  I  have  pleaded,  a  disposition  to 
subject  himself  to  the  government  and  the  grace  of 
that  Saviour  whose  name  he  bears.  0  sinner,  thou 
art  turning  away  from  my  Lord,  in  whose  cause  I 
speak  ;  but  let  me  earnestly  entreat  thee  seriously  to 


ADDRESS  TO  NOMINAL  CHRISTIANS.        157 

consider  why  thou  art  turning  away ;  and  "  to  whom 
thou  wilt  go,"  from  him  whom  thou  acknowledgest 
"  to  have  the  words  of  eternal  life."  John  6  :  68. 
You  call  yourself  a  Christian,  and  yet  will  not  by 
any  means  be  persuaded  to  seek  salvation  in  good 
earnest  from  and  through  Jesus  Christ,  whom  you 
call  your  Master  and  Lord.  How  do  you  for  a  mo- 
ment excuse  this  negligence  to  your  own  conscience  ? 
If  I  had  urged  you  on  any  controverted  point,  it  might 
have  altered  the  case.  If  I  had  labored  hard  to 
make  you  the  disciple  of  any  particular  party  of 
Christians,  your  delay  might  have  been  more  rea- 
sonable ;  nay,  perhaps  your  refusing  to  acquiesce 
might  have  been  an  act  of  apprehended  duty  to  our 
common  Master.  But  is  it  matter  of  controversy 
among  Christians,  whether  there  be  a  great,  holy, 
and  righteous  God ;  and  whether  such  a  Being,  whom 
we  agree  to  own,  should  be  reverenced  and  loved,  or 
neglected  and  dishonored  ?  Is  it  matter  of  contro- 
versy, whether  a  sinner  should  deeply  and  seriously 
repent  of  his  sins,  or  whether  he  should  go  on  in 
them  ?  Is  it  a  disputed  point  amongst  us,  whether 
Jesus  became  incarnate,  and  died  upon  the  cross  for 
the  redemption  of  sinners,  or  not  ?  And  if  it  be  not, 
can  it  be  disputed  by  them  who  believe  him  to  be 
the  Son  of  God  and  the  Saviour  of  men,  whether  a 
sinner  should  seek  to  him,  or  neglect  him ;  or  whether 
one  who  professes  to  be  a  Christian  should  depart 


158  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

from  iniquity,  or  give  himself  up  to  the  practice  of 
it  ?  Are  the  precepts  of  our  great  Master  written  so 
obscurely  in  his  word,  that  there  should  be  room 
seriously  to  question  whether  he  require  a  devout, 
holy,  humble,  spiritual,  watchful,  self-denying  life,  or 
whether  he  allow  the  contrary  ?  Has  Christ,  aftei 
all  his  pretensions  of  bringing  life  and  immortality  to 
light,  left  it  more  uncertain  than  he  found  it,  whether 
there  be  any  future  state  of  happiness  and  misery,  or 
for  whom  these  states  are  respectively  intended  ?  Is 
it  a  matter  of  controversy  whether  God  will,  or  will 
not,  "bring  every  work  into  judgment,  with  every 
secret  thing,  whether  it  be  good,  or  whether  it  be 
evil?"  Eccles.  12  : 14,  or  whether,  at  the  conclusion 
of  that  judgment,  "  the  wicked  shall  go  away  into 
everlasting  punishment,  and  the  righteous  into  life 
eternal  ?"  Matt.  25  :  46.  You  will  not,  I  arn  sure, 
for  very  shame,  pretend  any  doubt  about  these  things, 
and  yet  call  yourself  a  Christian.  Why,  then,  will 
you  not  be  persuaded  to  lay  them  to  heart,  and  to 
act  as  duty  and  interest  so  evidently  require  ?  0 
sinner,  the  cause  is  too  obvious,  a  cause  indeed  quite 
unworthy  of  being  called  a  .reason.  It  is  because 
thou  art  blinded  and  besotted  with  thy  vanities  and 
thy  lusts.  It  is  because  thou  hast  some  perishing 
trifle,  which  charms  thy  imagination  and  thy  senses, 
so  that  it  is  dearer  to  thee  than  God  and  Christ, 
than  thy  own  soul  and  its  salvation.  It  is;  in  a 


TO  NOMINAL  CHRISTIANS.  159 

word,  because  thou  art  still  under  the  influence  of 
that  canial  mind,  which,  whatever  pious  forms  it 
may  sometimes  admit  and  pretend,  "  is  enmity 
against  God,  and  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God, 
neither  indeed  can  be."  Rom.  8:7.  And  therefore 
thou  art  in  the  very  case  of  those  wretches,  concern- 
ing whom  our  Lord  said  in  the  days  of  his  flesh, 
"  Ye  will  not  come  unto  me,  that  ye  might  have 
life,"  John  5  :  40,  and  therefore  "  ye  shall  die  in 
your  sins."  John  8  :  24. 

8.  In  this  case  I  see  not  what  it  can  signify,  to 
renew  those  expostulations  and  addresses  which  I 
have  made  in  the  former  chapters.  As  our  blessed 
Redeemer  says  of  those  who  reject  his  gospel,  "  Ye 
have  both  seen  and  hated  both  me  and  my  Father," 
John  15  :  24,  so  may  I  truly  say  with  regard  to  you, 
I  have  endeavored  to  show  you,  in  the  plainest  and 
the  clearest  words,  both  Christ  and  the  Father ;  I 
have  urged  the  obligations  you  are  under  to  both  ;  I 
have  laid  before  you  your  guilt  and  your  condemna- 
tion ;  I  have  pointed  out  the  only  remedy ;  I  have 
pointed  out  the  rock  on  which  I  have  built  my  own 
eternal  hopes,  and  the  way  in  which  alone  I  expect 
salvation.  I  have  recommended  those  things  to  you, 
which,  if  God  gives  me  an  opportunity,  I  will,  with 
my  dying  breath,  earnestly  and  affectionately  recom- 
mend to  my  own  children,  and  to  all  the  dearest 
friends  that  I  have  upon  earth,  who  may  then  be 


160  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

near  me,  esteeming  it  the  highest  token  of  my  friend- 
ship, the  surest  proof  of  my  love  to  them.  And  if, 
believing  the  gospel  to  be  true,  you  resolve  to  reject 
it,  I  have  nothing  farther  to  say,  but  that  you  must 
abide  the  consequence.  Yet  as  Moses,  when  he  went 
out  from  the  presence  of  Pharaoh  for  the  last  time, 
finding  his  heart  yet  more  hardened  by  all  the  judg- 
ments and  deliverances  with  which  he  had  formerly 
been,  exercised,  denounced  upon  him  "  Grod's  passing 
through  the  land  in  terror  to  smite  the  first-born 
with  death,  and  warned  him  of  that  great  and  lam- 
entable cry,  which  the  sword  of  the  destroying  angel 
should  raise  throughout  all  his  realm,"  Exod.  11:4— 
6,  so  will  I,  sinner,  now  when  I  am  quitting  thee, 
speak  to  thee  yet  again,  "  whether  thou  wilt  hear,  or 
whether  thou  wilt  forbear,"  Ezek.  2 : 7,  and  denounce 
that  much  more  terrible  judgment,  which  the  sword 
of  divine  vengeance,  already  whetted  and  drawn,  and 
"  bathed,  as  it  were,  in  heaven,"  Isa.  34  :  5,  is  pre- 
paring against  thee;  which  shall  end  in  a  much 
more  doleful  cry,  though  thou  wert  greater  and  more 
obstinate  than  that  haughty  monarch.  Yes,  sinner, 
that  I  may,  with  the  apostle  Paul,  when  turning  to 
others  who  are  more  likely  to  hear  me,  "  shake  my 
raiment,  and  say,  I  am  pure  from  your  blood,"  Acts 
18  :  6,  I  will  once  more  tell  you  what  the  end  of 
these  things  will  be.  And  0,  that  I  could  speak  to 
purpose !  0  that  I  could  thunder  in  thine  ear  such 


SINNER'S  DEATH.  Iftl 

a  peal  of  terror  as  might  awaken  thee,  and  be  too 
loud  to  be  "drowned  in  all  the  noise  of  carnal  mirth, 
or  to  be  deadened  by  those  dangerous  opiates  with 
which  thou  art  contriving  to  stupefy  thy  conscience  ! 
9.  Seek  what  amusements  and  entertainments 
thou  wilt,  0  sinner.  I  tell  thee,  if  thou  wert  equal 
in  dignity,  and  power,  and  magnificence,  to  the 
"  great  monarch  of  Babylon,  thy  pomp  shall  be 
brought  down  to  the  grave,  and  all  the  sound  of  thy 
viols  ;  the  worm  shall  be  spread  under  thee,  and  the 
worm  shall  cover  thee,"  Isa.  14  :  11 ;  yes,  sinner, 
"the  end  of  these  things  is  death,"  Rom.  6  :  21 — 
death  in  its  most  terrible  sense  to  thee,  if  this  con- 
tinue thy  governing  temper.  Thou  canst  not  avoid 
it ;  and,  if  it  be  possible  for  any  thing  that  I  can  say 
to  prevent,  thou  shalt  not  forget  it.  Your  "strength 
is  not  the  strength  of  stones,  nor  is  your  flesh  of 
brass."  Job  6  :  12.  You  are  accessible  to  disease, 
as  well  as  others ;  and  if  some  sudden  accident  do 
not  prevent  it,  we  shall  soon  see  how  heroically  you 
will  behave  yourself  on  a  dying  bed,  and  in  the  near 
views  of  eternity.  You,  that  now  despise  Christ, 
and  trifle  with  his  gospel,  we  shall  see  you  droop 
and  languish  ;  shall  see  all  your  relish  for  your  car- 
nal recreations  and  your  vain  companions  lost.  And 
if  perhaps  one  and  another  of  them  bolt  in  upon  you, 
and  is  brutish  and  desperate  enough  to  attempt  to 
entertain  a  dying  man  with  a  gay  story,  or  a  profane 

Rise  and  P*og,  ]  1 


162  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

jest,  we  shall  see  how  you  will  relish  it.  We  shall 
see  what  comfort  you  will  have  in  reflecting  on  what 
is  past,  or  what  hope  in  looking  forward  to  what  is 
to  come.  Perhaps,  trembling  and  astonished,  you 
will  then  he  inquiring,  in  a  wild  kind  of  consterna- 
tion, "  what  you  shall  do  to  be  saved ;"  calling  for 
the  ministers  of  Christ,  whom  you  now  despise  for 
the  earnestness  with  which  they  would  labor  to  save 
your  soul ;  and  it  may  be  falling  into  a  delirium,  or 
dying  convulsions,  before  they  can  come.  Or  per- 
haps we  may  see  you  nattering  yourself,  through  a 
long,  lingering  illness,  that  you  shall  still  recover, 
and  putting  off  any  serious  reflection  and  conversa- 
tion, for  fear  it  should  overset  your  spirits.  And  the 
cruel  kindness  of  friends  and  physicians,  as  if  they 
were  in  league  with  Satan  to  make  the  destruction 
of  your  soul  as  sure  as  possible,  may  perhaps  abet 
this  fatal  deceit. 

10.  And  if  any  of  these  probable  cases  happen, 
that  is,  in  short,  unless  a  miracle  of  grace  snatch  you 
"  as  a  brand  out  of  the  burning,"  when  the  flames 
have,  as  it  were,  already  taken  hold  of  you  ;  all  these 
gloomy  circumstances,  which  pass  in  the  chambers 
of  illness  and  on  the  bed  of  death,  are  but  the  fore- 
runners of  infinitely  more  dreadful  things.  Oh,  who 
can  describe  them  ?  "Who  can  imagine  them  ?  When 
surviving  friends  are  tenderly  mourning  over  the 
breathless  corpse,  and  taking  a  fond  farewell  of  it 


SINNER   IN  THE  JUDGMENT.  103 

before  it  is  laid  to  consume  away  in  the  dark  and 
silent  grave,  into  what  hands,  0  sinner,  will  thy  soul 
be  fallen  ?  What  scenes  will  open  upon  thy  separate 
spirit,  even  before  thy  deserted  flesh  be  cold,  or  thy 
sightless  eyes  are  closed  ?  It  shall  then  know  what 
it  is  to  return  to  God,  to  be  rejected  by  him  as  hav- 
ing rejected  his  Gospel  and  his  Son,  and  despised  the 
only  treaty  of  reconciliation ;  and  that  so  amazingly 
condescending  and  gracious.  Thou  shalt  know  what 
it  is  to  be  disowned  by  Christ,  whom  thou  hast  re- 
fused to  entertain ;  and  what  it  is,  as  the  certain 
and  immediate  consequence  of  that,  to  be  left  in  the 
hands  of  the  malignant  spirits  of  hell.  There  will 
be  no  more  friendship  then ;  none  to  comfort,  none 
to  alleviate  thy  agony  and  distress ;  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, all  around  thee  laboring  to  aggravate  and  in- 
crease them.  Thou  shalt  pass  away  the  intermediate 
years  of  the  separate  state  in  dreadful  expectation, 
and  bitter  outcries  of  horror  and  remorse.  And  then 
thou  shalt  hear  the  trumpet  of  the  archangel,  in 
whatever  cavern  of  that  gloomy  world  thou  art 
lodged.  Its  sound  shall  penetrate  thy  prison,  where, 
doleful  and  horrible  as  it  is,  thou  shalt  nevertheless 
wish  that  thou  mightest  still  be  allowed  to  hide  thy 
guilty  head,  rather  than  show  it  before  the  face  of 
that  awful  Judge,  before  whom  "  heaven  and  earth 
are  fleeing  away."  Rev.  20  :  11.  But  thou  must 
come  forth,  and  be  reunited  to  a  body  now  formed 


164  RISE  AND   PROGRESS. 

for  ever  to  endure  agonies,  which  in  this  mortal 
state  would  have  .dissolved  it  in  a  moment.  You 
would  not  be  persuaded  to  come  to  Christ  before: 
you  would  stupidly  neglect  him,  in  spite  of  reason, 
in  spite  of  conscience,  in  spite  of  all  the  tender  solici- 
tations of  the  gospel,  and  the  repeated  admonitions 
of  its  most  faithful  ministers.  But  now,  sinner,  you 
shall  have  an  interview  with  him — if  that  may  be 
called  an  interview,  in  which  you  will  not  dare  to 
lift  up  your  head  to  view  the  face  of  your  tremendous 
and  inexorable  Judge.  There,  at  least,  how  distant 
soever  the  time  of  our  life  and  the  place  of  our  abode 
may  have  been,  there  shall  we  see  how  courageously 
your  heart  will  endure,  and  how  "  strong  your  hands 
will  be  when  the  Lord  doeth  this."  Ezek.  22  :  14. 
There  shall  I  see  thee,  0  reader,  whoever  thou  art 
that  goest  on  in  thine  impenitency,  among  thousands 
and  ten  thousands  of  despairing  wretches,  trembling 
and  confounded.  There  shall  I  hear  thy  cries  among 
the  rest,  rending  the  very  heavens  in  vain.  The 
Judge  will  rise  from  his  throne  with  majestic  compo- 
sure, and  leave  thee  to  be  hurried  down  to  those  ever- 
lasting burnings,  to  which  his  righteous  vengeance 
hath  doomed  thee,  because  thou  wouldst  not  be  saved 
from  them.  Hell  shall  shut  its  mouth  upon  thee 
for  ever,  and  the  sad  echo  of  thy  groans  and  outcries 
shall  be  lost,  amidst  the  hallelujahs  of  heaven,  to  all 
that  find  mercy  of  the  Lord  in  that  day. 


SINNER  AN  OBJECT  OF   PRAYER.  165 

1 1 .  This  will  most  assuredly  be  the  end  of  these 
things  ;  and  thou,  as  a  nominal  Christian,  professest 
to  know,  and  to  believe  it.  It  moves  my  heart  at 
least,  if  it  moves  not  thine.  I  firmly  believe,  that 
every  one,  who  himself  obtains  salvation  and  glory, 
will  bear  so  much  of  his  Saviour's  image  in  wisdom 
and  goodness,  in  zeal  for  God,  and  a  steady  regard  to 
the  happiness  of  the  whole  creation,  that  he  will  be- 
hold this  sad  scene  with  calm  approbation,  and  with- 
out any  painful  commotion  of  mind.  But  as  yet  I 
am  flesh  and  blood ;  and  therefore  my  bowels  are 
troubled,  and  mine  eyes  often  overflow  with  grief,  to 
think  that  wretched  sinners  will  have  no  more  com- 
passion upon  their  own  souls  ;  to  think,  that  in  spite 
of  all  admonition,  they  will  obstinately  run  upon 
final,  everlasting  destruction.  It  would  signify  noth- 
ing here  to  add  a  prayer  or  a  meditation  for  your 
use.  Poor  creature,  you  will  not  meditate  ;  you  will 
not  pray.  Yet  as  I  have  often  poured  out  my  heart 
in  prayer  over  a  dying  friend,  when  the  force  of  his 
distemper  has  rendered  him  incapable  of  joining  with 
me,  so  I  will  now  apply  myself  to  God  for  you,  0 
unhappy  creature.  And  if  you  disdain  so  much  as 
to  read  what  my  compassion  dictates,  yet  I  hope 
they  who  have  felt  the  power  of  the  gospel  on  their 
own  souls,  as  they  cannot  but  pity  such  as  you,  will 
join  with  me  in  such  cordial,  though  broken  petitions 
as  these : 


166  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

A  PRAYER  IN  BEHALF  OF  AN  IMPENITENT  SINNER,  IN 
THE  CASE  JUST  DESCRIBED. 

"Almighty  God,  'with  thee  all  things  are  possi- 
ble.' Matt.  19  :  26.  To  thee,  therefore,  do  I  humbly 
apply  myself  in  behalf  of  this  dear  immortal  soul, 
which  thou  here  seest  perishing  in  its  sins,  and  hard- 
ening itself  against  that  everlasting  gospel  which  has 
been  the  power  of  God  to  the  salvation  of  so  many 
thousands  and  millions.  Thou  art  witness,  0  blessed 
God,  thou  art  witness  to  the  plainness  and  serious- 
ness with  which  the  message  has  been  delivered.  It 
is  in  thy  presence  that  these  awful  words  have  been 
written ;  and  in  thy  presence  have  they  been  read. 
Be  pleased,  therefore,  to  record  it  in  the  book  of  thy 
remembrance,  that  'so,  if  this  wicked  man  dieth  in 
his  iniquity,  after  the  warning  has  been  so  plainly 
and  solemnly  given  him,  his  blood  may  not  be  re- 
quired at  my  hand,'  Ezek.  33  :  8,  9,  nor  at  the  hand 
of  that  Christian  friend,  whoever  he  is,  by  whom  this 
book  has  been  procured  for  him,  with  a  sincere  de- 
sire for  the  salvation  of  his  soul.  Be  witness,  0 
blessed  '  Jesus,  in  the  day  in  which  thou  shalt  judge 
the  secrets  of  all  hearts,'  Rom.  2:16,  that  thy  gospel 
hath  been  preached  to  this  hardened  wretch,  and 
salvation  by  thy  blood  hath  been  offered  him,  though 
he  continued  to  despise  it.  And  may  thy  unworthy 
messenger  be  *  unto  God  a  sweet  savor  in  Christ,'  in 


PRAYER  FOR  AN   IMPENITENT  SINNER.    167 

this  very  soul,  even  though  it  should  at  last  perish. 
2  Cor.  2  :  15. 

"  But  0,  that  after  all  his  hardness  and  impeni- 
tence, thou  wouldst  still  be  pleased,  by  the  sovereign 
power  of  thine  efficacious  grace,  to  awaken  and  con- 
vert him.  Well  do  we  know,  0  thou  Lord  of  univer- 
sal nature,  that  he  who  made  the  soul  can  cause  the 
Bword  of  conviction  to  come  near  and  enter  into  it. 
0  that,  in  thine  infinite  wisdom  and  love,  thou  wouldst 
find  out  a  way  to  interpose,  and  save  this  sinner  from 
death,  from  eternal  death.  0  that,  if  it  be  thy 
blessed  will,  thou  wouldst  immediately  do  it.  Thou 
knowest,  0  God,  he  is  a  dying  creature  ;  thou  know- 
est  that  if  any  thing  be  done  for  him,  it  must  be  done 
quickly ;  thou  seest,  in  the  book  of  thy  wise  and  gra- 
cious decrees,  a  moment  marked,  which  must  seal 
him  up  in  an  unchangeable  state.  0  that  thou 
wouldst  lay  hold  on  him  while  he  is  yet  *  joined  to 
the  living,  and  hath  hope/  Eccles.  9:4.  Thy  im- 
mutable laws,  in  the  dispensation  of  grace,  forbid  that 
a  soul  should  be  converted  and  renewed  after  its 
entrance  into  the  invisible  world :  0  let  thy  sacred 
Spirit  work  while  he  is  yet  as  it  were  within  the 
sphere  of  its  operations.  Work,  0  God,  by  whatever 
method  thou  pleasest ;  only  have  mercy  upon  him.  0 
Lord,  have  mercy  upon  him,  that  he  sink  not  into 
these  depths  of  damnation  and  ruin,  on  the  very  brink 
of  which  he  so  evidently  appears.  0  that  thou  wouldst 


1G8  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

bring  him,  if  that  be  necessary,  and  seem  to  thee 
most  expedient,  into  any  depths  of  calamity  and  dis- 
tress. 0  that,  with  Manasseh,  he  may  be  *  taken  in 
the  thorns,  and  laden  with  the  fetters  of  affliction,' 
if  that  may  but  cause  him  to  '  seek  the  God  of  his 
fathers.'  2  Chron.  33  :  11,  12. 

"But  I  prescribe  not  to  thine  infinite  wisdom. 
Thou  hast  displayed  thy  power  in  glorious  and  as- 
tonishing instances  ;  which  I  thank  thee  that  I  have 
BO  circumstantially  known,  and  by  the  knowledge 
of  them  have  been  fortified  against  the  rash  confi- 
dence of  those  who  weakly  and  so  arrogantly  pro- 
nounce that  to  be  impossible  which  is  actually  done. 
Thou  hast,  I  know,  done  that,  by  a  single  thought 
in  retirement,  when  the  happy  man  reclaimed  by  it 
hath  been  far  from  means,  and  far  from  ordinances, 
which  neither  the  most  awful  admonitions,  nor  the 
most  tender  entreaties,  nor  the  most  terrible  afflic- 
tions, nor  the  most  wonderful  deliverances,  had  been 
able  to  effect. 

"  Glorify  thy  name,  0  Lord,  and  glorify  thy  grace, 
in  the  method  which  to  thine  infinite  wisdom  shall 
seem  most  expedient.  Only  grant,  I  beseech  thee, 
with  all  humble  submission  to  thy  will,  that  this  sin- 
ner may  be  saved ;  or  if  not,  that  the  labor  of  this 
part  of  this  treatise  may  not  be  altogether  in  vain ; 
but  that  if  some  reject  it  to  their  aggravated  ruin, 
others  may  hearken  and  live.  That  those  thy  ser- 


PRAYER  FOR  AN  IMPENITENT  SINNER.     169 

vants,  who  have  labored  for  their  deliverance  and 
happiness,  may  view  them  in  the  regions  of  glory,  as 
the  spoils  which  thou  hast  honored  them  as  the  in- 
struments of  recovering  ;  and  may  join  with  them  in 
the  hallelujahs  of  heaven,  '  to  Him  who  hath  loved 
us,  and  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  Wood,  and 
hath  made  us,'  of  condemned  rebels,  and  accursed, 
polluted  sinners,  *  kings  and  priests  unto  God ;  to 
him  be  glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever.'  Rev. 
1  :  5,  6.  Amen." 


170  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

AN  ADDRESS  TO  A  SOUL  SO  OVERWHELMED  WITH  A 
SENSE  OF  THE  GREATNESS  OF  ITS  SINS,  THAT  IT 
DARES  NOT  APPLY  ITSELF  TO  CHRIST  WITH  ANY  HOPE 
OF  SALVATION. 

1—4.  The  case  described  at  large. — 5.  As  it  frequently  oc- 
curs.— 6.  Granting  all  that  the  dejected  soul  charges  on  itself.- — 
7.  The  invitations  and  promises  of  Christ  give  hope. — 8. 
The  reader  urged,  under  all  his  burdens  and  fears,  to  an  hum- 
ble application  to  him.  Which  is  accordingly  exemplified  in 
the  concluding  Reflection  and  Prayer. 

1 .  I  HAVE  now  done  with  those  unhappy  creatures 
who  despise  the  Gospel,  and  with  those  who  neglect 
it.     With  pleasure  do  I  now  turn  myself  to  those 
who  will  hear  me  with  more  regard.     Among  the 
various  cases  which  now  present  themselves  to  my 
thoughts,  and  demand  my  tender,  affectionate,  re- 
spectful care,  there  is  none  more  worthy  of  compas- 
sion than  that  which  I  have  mentioned  in  the  title 
of  this  chapter,  none  which  requires  a  more  immedi- 
ate attempt  of  relief. 

2.  It  is  very  possible  some  afflicted  creature  may 
be  ready  to  cry  out,  "It  is  enough ;  aggravate  my 
grief  and  my  distress  no  more.     The  sentence  you 
have  been  so  awfully  describing,  as  what  shall  be 
passed  and  executed  on  the  impenitent  and  unbe- 


THE    DEJECTED    SOUL.  171 

lieving,  is  my  sentence  ;  and  the  terrors  of  it  are  my 
terrors.  '  For  mine  iniquities  have  gone  up  into  the 
heavens,'  and  my  transgressions  have  reached  unto 
the  clouds.  Rev.  18  :  5.  My  case  is  quite  singu- 
lar. Surely  there  never  was  so  great  a  sinner  as  I, 
I  have  received  so  many  mercies,  have  enjoyed  so 
many  advantages,  I  have  heard  so  many  invitations 
of  gospel  grace  ;  and  yet  my  heart  has  been  so  hard, 
and  my  nature  is  so  exceeding  sinful,  and  the  num- 
ber and  aggravating  circumstances  of  my  provoca- 
tions have  been  such,  that  I  dare  not  hope.  It  is 
enough  that  Grod  hath  supported  me  thus  long  ;  it  is 
enough,  that,  after  so  many  years  of  wickedness,  I 
am  yet  out  of  hell.  Every  day's  reprieve  is  a  mercy 
at  which  I  am  astonished.  I  lie  down,  and  wonder 
that  death  and  damnation  have  not  seized  me  in  my 
walks  the  day  past.  I  arise,  and  wonder  that  my 
bed  has  not  been  my  grave — wonder  that  my  soul  is 
not  separated  from  my  flesh,  and  surrounded  with 
devils  and  damned  spirits. 

3.  "I  have  indeed  heard  the  message  of  salvation ; 
but  alas,  it  seems  no  message  of  salvation  to  me. 
There  are  happy  souls  that  have  hope ;  and  their 
hope  is  indeed  in  Christ  and  the  grace  of  God  mani- 
fest in  him.  But  they  feel  in  their  hearts  an  en- 
couragement to  apply  to  him,  whereas  I  dare  not  do 
it.  Christ  and  grace  are  things  in  which  I  fear  I 
have  no  part,  and  must  expect  none.  There  are  ex- 


172  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

ceeding  rich  and  precious  promises  in  the  word  of 
God  ;  but  they  are  to  me  as  a  sealed  book,  and  are 
hid  from  me  as  to  any  personal  use.  I  know  Christ 
is  able  to  save  :  I  know  he  is  willing  to  save  some. 
But  that  he  should  be  willing  to  save  me — such  a 
polluted,  such  a  provoking  creature,  as  God  knows, 
and  as  conscience  knows,  I  have  been,  and  to  this 
day  am — this  I  know  not  how  to  believe  ;  and  the 
utmost  that  I  can  do  towards  believing  it,  is  to  ac- 
knowledge that  it  is  not  absolutely  impossible,  and 
that  I  do  not  lie  down  in  complete  despair ;  though, 
alas,  I  seem  upon  the  borders  of  it,  and  expect  every 
day  and  hour  to  fall  into  it." 

4.  I  should  not,  perhaps,  have  entered  so  fully  into 
this  case,  if  I  had  not  seen  many  in  it ;  and  I  will 
add,  reader,  for  your  encouragement,  if  it  be  your 
case,  several  who  now  are  in  the  number  of  the  most 
established,  cheerful,  and  useful  Christians.     And  I 
hope  divine  grace  will  add  you  to  the  rest,  if  "  out 
of  these  depths  you  be  enabled  to  cry  unto  God," 
Psalm  130  :  1  ;  and  though,  like  Jonah,  you  may 
seem  to  be  cast  out  from  his  presence,  yet  still,  with 
Jonah,  you  "look  towards  his  holy  temple."    Jonah 
2:  4. 

5.  Let  it  not  be  imagined,  that  it  is  in  any  neglect 
of  that  blessed  Spirit  whose  office  it  is  to  be  the 
great  Comforter,  that  I  now  attempt  to  reason  you 
out  of  this  disconsolate  frame  ;  for  it  is  as  the  great 


THE   DEJECTED    SOUL.  173 

source  of  reason,  that  he  deals  with  rational  crea- 
tures ;  and  it  is  in  the  use  of  rational  means  and 
considerations  that  he  may  most  justly  be  expected 
to  operate.  Give  me  leave,  therefore,  to  address  my- 
self calmly  to  you,  and  to  ask  you,  what  reason  you 
have  for  all  these  passionate  complaints  and  accusa- 
tions against  yourself.  What  reason  have  you  to 
suggest  that  your  case  is  singular,  when  so  many 
have  told  you  they  have  felt  the  same  ?  What  rea- 
son have  you  to  conclude  so  hardly  against  yourself, 
when  the  Gospel  speaks  in  such  favorable  terms  ? 
Or,  what  reason  to  imagine,  that  the  gracious  things 
it  says  are  not  intended  for  you  ?  You  know,  indeed, 
more  of  the  corruption  of  your  own  heart,  than  you 
know  of  the  hearts  of  others  ;  and  you  make  a  thou- 
sand charitable  excuses  for  their  visible  failings,  and 
infirmities,  which  you  make  not  for  your  own.  And 
it  may  be,  some  of* those  whom  you  admire  as  emi- 
nent saints  when  compared  with  you,  are  on  their 
part  humbling  themselves  in  the  dust,  as  unworthy 
to  be  numbered  among  the  least  of  God's  people,  and 
wishing  themselves  like  you,  in  whom  they  think 
they  see  much  more  good,  and  much  less  of  evil,  than 
in  themselves. 

6.  But  to  suppose  the  worst,  what  if  you  were 
really  the  vilest  sinner  that  ever  lived  -upon  the  face 
of  the  earth  ?  What  if  "  your  iniquities  had  gone  up 
into  the  heavens"  everyday,  and  "your  transgress 


174  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

sions  had  reached  unto  the  clouds,"  Rev.  18  ;  5 — 
reached  thither  with  such  horrid  aggravations,  that 
earth  and  heaven  should  have  had  reason  to  defest 
you  as  a  monster  of  impiety  ?  Admitting  all  this, 
"  is  any  thing  too  hard  for  the  Lord  ?"  Gen.  18  :  14. 
Are  any  sins,  of  which  a  sinner  can  repent,  of  so  deep 
a  dye  that  the  blood  of  Christ  cannot  wash  them 
away  ?  Nay,  though  it  would  be  daring  wickedness 
and  monstrous  folly  for  any  "  to  sin  that  grace  may 
abound,"  Rom.  6:1;  yet,  had  you  indeed  raised  your 
account  beyond  all  that  divine  grace  has  ever  yet 
pardoned,  who  should  "  limit  the  holy  One  of  Israel  ?" 
Psalm  78  :  41 ;  or  who  shall  pretend  to  say,  that  it 
is  impossible  that  God  may,  for  your  very  wretched- 
ness, choose  you  out  from  others,  to  make  you  a  monu- 
ment of  mercy,  and  a  trophy  of  hitherto  unparalleled 
grace  ?  The  apostle  Paul  strongly  intimates  this  to 
have  been  the  case  with  regard  to  himself;  and  why 
might  not  you  likewise,  if  indeed  "  the  chief  of  sin- 
ners" obtain  mercy,  that  in  you,  as  the  chief,  "  Jesus 
Christ  might  show  forth  all  long-suffering,  for  a 
pattern  to  them  who  shall  hereafter  believe  ?"  1 
Tim.  1  :  15,  16.  . 

7.  Gloomy  as  your  apprehensions  are,  I  would  ask 
you  plainly,  Do  you  in  your  conscience  think  that 
Christ  is  not  able  to  save  you  ?  What,  is  he  not 
"  able  to  save,  even  to  the  uttermost,  them  that  come 
unto  God  by  him  ?"  Heb.  7  ;  25.  Yes,  you  agjill  say, 


INVITATION    TO   CHRIST.  175 

abundantly  able  to  do  it ;  but  I  dare  not  imagine  that 
he  will  do  it.  And  how  do  you  know  that  he  will 
not  ?  He  has  helped  the  very  greatest  sinners  of  all 
that  have  yet  applied  themselves  to  him ;  and  he  has 
made  thee  offers  of  grace  and  salvation  in  the  most 
engaging  and  encouraging  terms.  "  If  any  man 
thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me  and  drink,"  John  7  :  37  ; 
"  Let  him  that  is  athirst  come  ;  and  whosoever  will, 
let  him  take  of  the  water  of  life  freely.'*  Rev.  22  :  17. 
"  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  Matt.  11  :  28.  And 
once  more,  "  Him  that  cometh  unto  me,  I  will  in  no 
wise  cast  out."  John  6  :  37.  "  True,"  will  you  say, 
"none  that  are  given  him  by  the  Father :  could  I 
know  I  were  of  that  number,  I  could  then  apply 
cheerfully  to  him."  But,  dear  reader,  let  me  entreat 
you  to  look  into  the  text  itself,  and  see  whether  that 
limitation  be  expressly  added  there.  Do  you  there 
read,  none  of  them  whom  the  Father  hath  given  me 
shall  be  cast  out  ?  The  words  are  in  a  much  more 
encouraging  form ;  and  why  should  you  frustrate  his 
wisdom  and  goodness  by  such  an  addition  of  your 
own  ?  "  Add  not  to  his  words,  lest  he  reprove  thee," 
Prov.  30:6;  take  them  as  they  stand,  and  drink  in 
the  consolation  of  them.  Our  Lord  knew  into  what 
perplexity  some  serious  minds  might  possibly  be 
thrown  by  what  he  had  before  been  saying,  "All 
that  the  Father  hath  given  me,  shall  come  unto  me  ;" 


176  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

and  therefore,  as  it  were  on  purpose  to  balance  it,  he 
adds  those  gracious  words,  "him  that  cometh  unto 
me,  I  will  in  no  wise,"  by  no  means,  on  no  consider- 
ation whatsoever,  "  cast  out." 

8.  If,  therefore,  you  are  already  discouraged  and 
terrified  at  the  greatness  of  your  sins,  do  not  add  to 
their  weight  and  number  that  one  greater  and  worse 
than  all  the  rest,  a  distrust  of  the  faithfulness  and 
grace  of  the  blessed  Redeemer.  Do  not,  so  far  as  in 
you  lies,  oppose  all  the  purposes  of  his  love  to  you. 
0  distressed  soul,  whom  dost  thou  dread  ?  To  whom 
dost  thou  tremble  to  approach  ?  Is  there  any  thing 
so  terrible  in  a  crucified  Redeemer,  in  the  Lamb  that 
was  slain  ?  If  thou  earnest  thy  soul,  almost  sinking 
under  the.  burden  of  its  guilt,  to  lay  it  down  at  his 
feet,  what  dost  thou  offer  him,  but  the  spoil  which  he 
bled  and  died  to  recover  and  possess  ?  And  did  he 
purchase  it  so  dearly,  that  he  might  reject  it  with 
disdain  ?  Go  to  him  directly,  and  fall  down  in  his 
presence,  and  plead  that  misery  of  thine  which  thou 
hast  now  been  pleading  in  a  contrary  view,  as  an  en- 
gagement to  your  own  soul  to  make  the  application, 
and  as  an  argument  with  the  compassionate  Saviour 
to  receive  you.  Go,  and  be  assured,  that  "  where 
sin  hath  abounded,  there  grace  shall  much  more 
abound."  Rom.  5  :  20.  Be  assured,  that  if  one 
sinner  can  promise  himself  a  more  certain  welcome 
than  another,  it  is  not  he  that  is  least  guilty  and 


APPLYING   TO    CHRIST    FOR    MERCY.         1/7 

miserable,  but  he  that  is  most  deeply  humbled  before 
God  under  a  sense  of  that  misery  and  guilt,  and  lies 
the  lowest  in  the  apprehension  of  it. 

REFLECTIONS  ON  THESE  ENCOURAGEMENTS,  ENDING  IN 
AN  HUMBLE  AND  EARNEST  APPLICATION  TO  CHRIST 
FOR  MERCY. 

"  0  my  soul,  what  sayest  thou  to  these  things  ? 
Is  there  not  at  least  a  possibility  of  help  from  Christ? 
And  is  there  a  possibility  of  help  any  other  way  ?  Is 
any  other  name  given  under  heaven,  whereby  we 
can  be  saved  ?  I  know  there  is  none.  Acts  4:12. 
I  must  then  say,  like  the  lepers  of  Israel,  2  King£, 
7  :  4,  '  If  I  sit  here,  I  perish ;  and  if  I  make  my  ap- 
plication in  vain,  I  can  but  die.'  But  perad venture 
he  may  save  my  soul  alive.  I  will  therefore  arise, 
and  go  unto  him  ;  or  rather,  believing  him  here,  by 
his  spiritual  presence,  sinful  and  miserable  as  I  am, 
I  will  this  moment  fall  down  on  my  face  before  him, 
and  pour  out  my  soul  unto  him. 

"Blessed  Jesus,  I  present  myself  unto  thee,  as  a 
wretched  creature,  driven  indeed  by  necessity  to  do 
it.  For  surely,  were  not  that  necessity  urgent  and 
absolute,  I  should  not  dare,  for  very  shame,  to  appear 
in  thy  holy  and  majestic  presence.  I  am  fully  con- 
vinced that  my  sins  and  my  follies  have  been  inex- 
cusably great,  more  than  I  can  express,  more  than  1 
can  conceive.  I  feel  a  source  of  sin  in  my  corrupt 

Rise  and  Frog.  1 2 


178  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

and  degenerate  nature,  which  pours  out  iniquity  as 
a  fountain  sends  out  its  water,  and  makes  me  a  bur- 
den and  a  terror  to  myself.  Such  aggravations  have 
attended  my  transgressions,  that  it  looks  like  pre- 
sumption so  much  as  to  ask  pardon  for  them.  And 
yet,  would  it  not  be  greater  presumption  to  say,  that 
they  exceed  thy  mercy,  and  the  efficacy  of  thy  blood ; 
to  say,  that  thou  hast  power  and  grace  enough  to 
pardon  and  save  only  sinners  of  a  lower  order,  while 
such  as  I  lie  out  of  thy  reach  ?  Preserve  me  from 
that  blasphemous  imagination.  Preserve  me  from 
that  unreasonable  suspicion.  Lord,  thou  canst  do  all 
things,  neither  is  there  any  thought  of  mine  heart 
withholden  from  thee.  Job  42  :  2.  Thou  art  indeed, 
as  thy  word  declares,  able  to  save  unto  the  uttermost. 
Heb.  7  :  25.  And  therefore,  breaking  through  all 
the  oppositions  of  shame  and  fear  that  would  keep 
me  from  thee,  I  come  and  lie  down  as  in  the  dust  be- 
fore thee.  Thou  knowest,  0  Lord,  all  my  sins  and 
all  my  follies.  Psa.  69  :  5.  I  cannot,  and  I  hope 
I  may  say,  I  would  not  disguise  them  before  thee, 
or  set  myself  to  find  out  plausible  excuses.  Accuse 
me,  Lord,  as  thou  pleasest ;  and  I  will  ingenuously 
plead  guilty  to  all  thine  accusations.  I  will  own 
myself  as  great  a  sinner  as  thou  callest  me ;  but  I 
am  still  a  sinner  that  comes  unto  thee  for  pardon.  If 
I  must  die,  it  shall  be  submitting,  and  owning  the 
justice  of  the  fatal  stroke.  If  I  perish,  it  shal]  be 


APPLYING   TO   CHRIST   FOR   MERCY.         17!) 

laying  hold,  as  it  were,  on  the  horns  of  the  altar; 
laying  myself  down  at  thy  footstool,  though  I  have 
been  such  a  rebel  against  thy  throne.  Many  have 
received  a  full  pardon  there ;  have  met  with  favor 
even  beyond  their  hopes.  And  are  all  thy  compas- 
sions, 0  blessed  Jesus,  exhausted  ?  And  wilt  thou 
now  begin  to  reject  an  humble  creature  who  flies  to 
thee  for  life,  and  pleads  nothing  but  mercy  and  free 
grace  ?  Have  mercy  upon  me,  0  most  gracious  Re- 
deemer; have  mercy  upon  me,  and  let  my  life  be 
precious  in  thy  sight.  2  Kings,  1  :  14.  0  do  not  re- 
solve to  send  me  down  to  that  state  of  final  misery 
and  despair,  from  which  it  was  thy  gracious  purpose 
to  deliver  and  save  so  many. 

"Spurn  me  not  away,  0  Lord,  from  thy  presence, 
nor  be  offended  when  I  presume  to  lay  hold  on  thy 
royal  robe,  and  say  that  I  cannot  and  will  not  let 
thee  go  till  my  suit  is  granted.  Gen.  32  :  26.  0 
remember  that  my  eternity  is  at  stake.  Remember, 
0  Lord,  that  all  my  hopes  of  obtaining  eternal  hap- 
piness, and  avoiding  everlasting,  helpless,  hopeless 
destruction,  are  anchored  upon  thee ;  they  hang  upon 
thy  smiles,  or  drop  at  thy  frown.  0  have  mercy  up- 
on me,  for  the  sake  of  this  immortal  soul  of  mine ; 
or  if  not  for  the  sake  of  mine  alone,  for  the  sake  of 
many  others,  who  may,  on  the  one  hand,  be  en- 
couraged by  thy  mercy  to  me,  or,  on  the  other,  may 
be  greatly  wounded  and  discouraged  by  my  helpless 


180  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

despair.  I  beseech  thee,  0  Lord,  for  thine  own  sake, 
and  for  the  display  of  thy  Father's  rich  and  sovereign 
grace ;  I  beseech  thee  by  the  blood  thou  didst  shed 
on  the  cross  ;  I  beseech  thee  by  the  covenant  of  grace 
and  peace,  into  which  the  Father  did  enter  with  thee 
for  the  salvation  of  believing  and  repenting  sinners, 
save  me,  save  me,  0  Lord,  who  earnestly  desire  to 
repent  and  believe.  I  am  indeed  a  sinner,  in  whose 
final  and  everlasting  destruction  thy  justice  might  be 
greatly  glorified ;  but  0,  if  thou  wilt  pardon  me,  it 
will  be  a  monument  raised  to  the  honor  of  thy  grace, 
and  the  efficacy  of  thy  blood,  in  proportion  to  the 
degree  in  which  the  wretch  to  whom  thy  mercy  is 
extended  was  mean  and  miserable  without  it.  Speak, 
Lord,  by  thy  blessed  Spirit,  and  banish  my  fears. 
Look  unto  me  with  love  and  grace  in  thy  counte- 
nance, and  say  to  me,  as  in  the  days  of  thy  flesh  thou 
didst  to  many  an  humble  supplicant,  lThy  sins  are 
forgiven  thee;  go  in  peace.'  " 


THE  DOUBTING   SOUL  ASSISTED.  131 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  DOUBTING  SOUL  MORE  PARTICULARLY  ASSISTED  IN 
ITS  INaUIRIES  AS  TO  THE  SINCERITY  OF  ITS  FAITH 
AND  REPENTANCE. 

1 .  Transient  impressions  liable  to  be  mistaken  for  conversion, 
which  would  be  a  fatal  error. — 2.  General  scheme  for  self- 
examination. — 3.  Particular  inquiries:  What  views  there  have 
been  of  sin. — 4.  What  views  there  have  been  of  Christ. — 
5.  As  to  the  need  the  soul  has  of  him. — 6.  And  its  willingness 
to  receive  him  with  a  due  surrender  of  heart  to  his  service. — 
7.  Nothing  short  of  this  sufficient.  The  soul  submitting  to 
divine  examination  the  sincerity  of  its  faith  and  repentance. 

1.  IN  consequence  of  all  the  serious  things  which 
have  been  said  in  the  former  chapters,  I  hope  it  will 
be  no  false  presumption  to  imagine  that  some  relig- 
ious impressions  may  be  made  on  hearts  which  had 
never  felt  them  before;  or  may  be  revived  where 
they  have  formerly  grown  cold  and  languid.  Yet  J 
am  very  sensible,  and  I  desire  that  you  may  be  so, 
how  great  danger  there  is  of  self-flattery  on  this  im- 
portant head,  and  how  necessary  it  is  to  caution  men 
against  too  hasty  a  conclusion  that  they  are  really 
converted,  because  they  have  felt  some  warm  emo- 
tions on  their  minds,  and  have  reformed  the  gross  ir- 
regularities of  their  former  conduct.  A  mistake  here 
may  be  infinitely  fatal ;  it  may  prove  the  occasion  of 


182  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

that  false  peace  which  shall  lead  a  man  to  bless  him- 
self in  his  own  heart,  and  to  conclude  himself  secure, 
while  "  all  the  threatenings  and  curses  of  God's  law'* 
are  sounding  in  his  ears,  and  lie  indeed  directly 
against  him,  Deut.  19  :  19,  20;  while  in  the  mean- 
time he  applies  to  himself  a  thousand  promises  in 
which  he  has  no  share ;  which  may  prove  therefore 
like  generous  wines  to  a  man  in  a  high  fever,  or 
strong  opiates  to  one  in  a  lethargy.  "  The  stony- 
ground  hearers  received  the  word  with  joy,"  and  a 
promising  harvest  seemed  to  be  springing  up ;  yet 
"it  soon  withered  away,"  Matt.  13  :  5,  6,  and  no 
reaper  filled  his  arms  with  it.  Now,  that  this  may 
not  be  the  case  with  you,  that  all  my  labors  and 
yours  hitherto  may  not  be  lost,  and  that  a  vain  dream 
of  security  and  happiness  may  not  plunge  you  deeper 
in  misery  and  ruin,  give  me  leave  to  lead  you  into 
a  serious  inquiry  into  your  own  heart,  that  so  you 
may  be  better  able  to  judge  of  your  case,  and  to  dis- 
tinguish between  what  is  at  most  being  only  near 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  becoming  indeed  a 
member  of  it. 

2.  Now  this  depends  upon  the  sincerity  of  your 
faith  in  Christ,  when  faith  is  taken  in  the  largest 
extent,  as  explained  above ;  that  is,  as  comprehend- 
ing repentance,  and  that  steady  purpose  of  new  and 
universal  obedience,  of  which,  wherever  it  is  real, 
faith  will  assuredly  be  the  vital  principle.  Therefore, 


THE  DOUBTING  SOUL  ASSISTED.  183 

to  assist  you  in  judging  of  your  state,  give  me  leave 
to  ask  you,  or  rather  to  entreat  you  to  ask  yourself, 
what  views  you  have  had,  and  now  have,  of  sin  and 
of  Christ ;  and  what  your  future  purposes  are  with 
regard  to  your  conduct  in  the  remainder  of  life  that 
may  lie  before  you.  I  shall  not  reason  largely  upon  the 
several  particulars  I  suggest  under  these  heads,  but 
rather  refer  you  to  your  own  reading  and  observation, 
to  judge  how  agreeable  they  are  to  the  word  of  God, 
the  great  rule  by  which  our  characters  must  quickly 
be  tried,  and  our  eternal  state  unalterably  determined. 
3.  Inquire  seriously,  in  the  first  place,  what  views 
you  have  had  of  sin,  and  what  sentiments  you  have 
felt  in  your  soul  with  regard  to  it.  There  was  a 
time  when  it  wore  a  flattering  aspect,  and  made  a 
fair,  enchanting  appearance,  so  that  all  your  heart 
was  charmed  with  it,  and  it  was  the  very  business 
of  your  life  to  practise  it.  But  you  have  since  been 
undeceived.  You  have  felt  it  "bite  like  a  serpent, 
and  sting  like  an  adder."  Prov.  23  :  32.  You  have 
beheld  it  with  an  abhorrence  far  greater  than  the 
delight  which  it  ever  gave  you.  So  far  it  is  well. 
It  is  thus  with  every  true  penitent,  and  with  some,  I 
fear,  who  are  not  of  that  number.  Let  me  therefore 
inquire  farther,  Whence  arose  this  abhorrence  ?  Was 
it  merely  from  a  principle  of  self-love  ?  Was  it  mere- 
ly because  you  had  been  wounded  by  it  ?  Was  it 
merely  because  you  had  thereby  brought  condemna- 


184  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

tioii  and  ruin  upon  your  own  soul  ?  Was  there  no 
sense  of  its  deformity,  of  its  baseness,  of  its  maligni- 
ty, as  committed  against  the  blessed  God,  considered 
as  a  glorious,  a  bountiful,  and  a  merciful  Being  ? 
Were  you  never  pierced  by  the  apprehension  of  its 
vile  ingratitude?  And  as  for  those  purposes  which 
have  arisen  in  your  heart  against  it,  let  me  beseech 
you  to  reflect  how  they  have  been  formed,  and  how 
they  have  hitherto  been  executed.  Have  they  been 
universal  ?  Have  they  been  resolute  ?  And  yet, 
amidst  all  that  resolution,  have  they  been  humble  ? 
When  you  have  declared  war  with  sin,  was  it  with 
every  sin  ?  And  is  it  an  irreconcilable  war,  which 
you  determine,  by  divine  grace,  to  push  on  till  you 
have  entirely  conquered  it,  or  die  in  the  attempt  ? 
And  are  you  accordingly  active  in  your  endeavors  to 
subdue  and  destroy  it?  If  so,  what  are  "the  fruits 
worthy  of  repentance  which  you  bring  forth  ? ' '  Luke 
3:8.  It  does  not,  I  hope,  all  flow  away  in  floods 
of  grief.  Have  you  "ceased  to  do  evil?"  Are  you 
"learning  to  do  well?"  Isa.  1  :  16,  17.  Doth  your 
reformation  show  that  you  repent  of  your  sins ;  or 
do  your  renewed  relapses  into  sin  prove  that  you  re- 
pent even  of  what  you  call  your  repentance  ?  Have 
you  an  inward  abhorrence  of  all  sin,  and  an  unfeign- 
ed zeal  against  it?  And  doth  that  produce  a  care 
to  guard  against  the  occasions  of  it,  and  temptations 
to  it  ?  Do  you  watch  against  the  circumstances  that 


THE  DOUBTING  SOUL  ASSISTED.  185 

have  ensnared  you  ;  and  do  you  particularly  double 
your  guard  against  "  that  sin  which  does  most  easily 
beset  you  ?"  Heb.  12  :  1.  Is  that  laid  aside,  that 
the  Christian  race  may  be  run — laid  aside  with  firm 
determination  that  you  will  return  to  it  no  more,  that 
you  hold  no  more  parley  with  it,  that  you  will  never 
take  another  step  towards  it  ? 

4.  Permit  me  also,  farther  to  inquire  what  your 
views  of  Christ  have  been.    What  think  you  of  him, 
and  your  concern  with  him?     Have  you  been  fully 
convinced  that  there  must  be  a  correspondence  set- 
tled between  him  and  your  soul  ?     And  do  you  see 
and  feel,  that  you  are  not  only  to  pay  him  a  kind  of 
distant  homage,  and  transient  compliment,  as  a  very 
wise,  benevolent,   and   excellent  person,  for  whose 
name  and  memory  you  have  a  reverence ;  but  that, 
as  he  lives  and  reigns,  as  he  is  ever  near  you,  and 
always  observing  you,  so   you   must  look  to  him. 
must  approach  him,  must  humbly  transact  business 
with  him,  and  that  business  of  the  highest  impor- 
tance, on  which  your  salvation  depends? 

5.  You  have  been  brought  to  inquire,  "  Where- 
with shall  I  come  before  the  Lord,  and  bow  myself 
before  the  most  high  God  ?"    Micah  6:6.    And  once, 
perhaps,  you  were  thinking  of  sacrifices  which  your 
own  stores  might  have  been  sufficient  to  furnish  out. 
Are  you  now  convinced  they  will  not  suffice ;  and 
that  you  must  have  recourse  to  the  Lamb  which  God 


186  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

has  provided  ?  Have  you  had  a  view  of  "  Jesus  as 
taking  away  the  sin  of  the  world  ?"  John  1  :  29, 
"  as  made  a  sin-offering  for  us,  though  he  knew  no 
sin,  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God 
in  him  ?"  2  Cor.  5  :  21.  Have  you  viewed  him  as 
perfectly  righteous  in  himself;  and,  despairing  of 
being  justified  by  any  righteousness  of  your  own, 
have  you  "  submitted  to  the  righteousness  of  God  ?" 
Rom.  10  :  3.  Has  your  heart  ever  been  brought  to 
a  deep  conviction  of  this  important  truth,  that  if  ever 
you  are  saved  at  all,  it  must  be  through  Christ ;  that 
if  God  ever  extends  mercy  to  you  at  all,  it  must  be 
for  his  sake  ;  that  if  ever  you  are  fixed  in  the  temple 
of  God  above,  you  must  stand  there  as  an  everlast- 
ing trophy  of  that  victory  which  Christ  has  gained 
over  the  powers  of  hell,  who  would  otherwise  have 
triumphed  over  you  ? 

6.  Our  Lord  says,  "Look  unto  me,  and  be  ye 
saved."  Isaiah  45  :  22.  He  says,  "If  I  be  lifted 
up,  I  will  draw  all  men  unto  me."  John  12  :  32. 
Have  you  looked  to  him  as  the  only  Saviour,  have 
you  been  drawn  unto  him  by  that  sacred  magnet,  the 
attracting  influence  of  his  '  dying  love  ?  Do  you 
know  what  it  is  to  come  to  Christ,  as  a  poor  "weary 
and  heavy-laden  sinner,  that  you  may  find  rest?" 
Matt.  11  :  28.  Do  you  know  what  it  is,  in  a  spiritual 
sense,  "  to  eat  the  flesh  and  drink  the  blood  of  the 
Son  of  man,"  John  6  :  53  ;  that  is,  to  look  upon 


THE  DOUBTING  SOUL  ASSISTED.  187 

Christ  crucified  as  the  great  support  of  your  soul, 
and  to  feel  a  desire  after  him,  earnest  as  the  appetite 
of  nature  after  its  necessary  food  ?  Have  you  known 
what  it  is  cordially  to  surrender  yourself  to  Christ,  as 
a  poor  creature  whom  love  has  made  his  property  ? 
Have  you  committed  your  immortal  soul  to  him,  that 
he  may  purify  and  save  it ;  that  he  may  govern  it 
by  the  dictates  of  his  word  and  the  influences  of  his 
Spirit ;  that  he  may  use  it  for  his  glory,  that  he  may 
appoint  it  to  what  exercises  and  discipline  he  pleases, 
while  it  dwells  here  in  flesh ;  and  that  he  may  re- 
ceive it  at  death,  and  fix  it  among  those  spirits,  who 
with  perpetual  songs  of  praise  surround  his  throne, 
and  are  his  servants  for  ever  ?  Have  you  heartily 
consented  to  this  ?  And  do  you,  on  this  account  of 
the  matter,  renew  your  consent  ?  Do  you  renew  it 
deliberately  and  determinately,  and  feel  your  whole 
soul,  as  it  were,  saying  Amen,  while  you  read  this  ? 
If  this  be  the  case,  then  I  can,  with  great  pleasure, 
give  you,  as  it  were,  the  right  hand  of  fellowship, 
and  salute  and  embrace  you  as  a  sincere  disciple  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  as  one  who  is  delivered  from 
the  power  of  darkness,  and  is  translated  into  the 
kingdom  of  the  Son  of  God.  Col.  1  :  13.  I  can 
then  salute  you  in  the  Lord,  as  one  to  whom,  as  a 
minister  of  Jesus,  I  am  commissioned  and  charged  to 
speak  comfortably,  and  tell  you,  not  that  I  absolve 
you  from  your  sins,  for  it  is  a  small  matter  to  be 


188  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

judged  of  man's  judgment,  but  that  the  blessed  God 
himself  absolveth  you ;  that  you  are  one  to  whom 
he  hath  said  in  his  Gospel,  and  is  continually  saying, 
"  Your  sins  are  forgiven  you,"  Luke  7  :  48  ;  there- 
fore go  in  peace,  and  take  the  comfort  of  it. 

7.  But  if  you  are  a  stranger  to  these  experiences, 
and  to  this  temper  which  I  have  now  described,  the 
great  work  is  yet  undone  :  you  are  an  impenitent 
and  unbelieving  sinner,  and  "  the  wrath  of  God 
abide th  on  you."  John  3  :  36.  However  you  may 
have  been  awakened  and  alarmed,  whatever  resolu- 
tions you  may  have  formed  for  amending  your  life, 
how  right  soever  your  notions  may  be,  how  pure 
soever  your  forms  of  worship,  how  ardent  soever  your 
zeal,  how  severe  soever  your  mortification,  how  hu- 
mane soever  your  temper,  how  inoffensive  soever 
your  life  may  be,  I  can  speak  no  comfort  to  you. 
Vain  are  all  your  religious  hopes,  if  there  has  not 
been  a  cordial  humiliation  before  the  presence  of  God 
for  all  your  sins  ;  if  there  has  not  been  this  avowed 
war  declared  against  every  thing  displeasing  to  God  ; 
if  there  has  not  been  this  sense  of  your  need  of  Christ, 
and  of  your  ruin  without  him  ;  if  there  has  not  been 
this  earnest  application  to  him,  this  surrender  of  your 
soul  into  his  hands  by  faith,  this  renunciation  of 
yourself,  that  you  might  fix  on  him  the  anchor  of 
your  hope ;  if  there  has  not  been  this  unreserved 
dedication  of  yourself,  to  be  at  all  times,  and  in  all 


REPENTANCE  AND  FAITH.  189 

respects,  the  faithful  servant  of  God  through  him ; 
and  if  you  do  not  with  all  this  acknowledge,  that  you 
are  an  unprofitable  servant,  who  have  no  other  expec- 
tations of  acceptance  or  of  pardon  hut  only  through 
his  righteousness  and  blood,  and  through  the  riches 
of  divine  grace  in  him,  I  repeat  it  to  you  again, 
that  all  your  hopes  are  vain,  and  you  are  "  building 
on  the  sand."  Matt.  7  :  26.  The  house  you  have 
already  raised  must  be  thrown  down  to  the  ground, 
and  the  foundation  be  removed  and  laid  anew,  or- 
you,  and  all  your  hopes,  will  shortly  be  swept  away 
with  it,  and  buried  under  it  in  everlasting  ruin. 

THE  SOUL  SUBMITTING   TO  DIVINE  EXAMINATION  THE 
SINCERITY  OF  ITS  REPENTANCE  AND  FAITH. 

"  0  Lord  God,  thou  searchest  all  hearts,  and  triest 
the  reins  of  the  children  of  men.  Jer.  17  :  10. 
Search  me,  0  Lord,  and  know  my  heart ;  try  me, 
and  know  my  thoughts ;  and  see  if  there  be  any 
wicked  way  in  me,  and  lead  me  in  the  way  everlast- 
ing. Psalms  139  :  23,  24.  Doth  not  conscience, 
0  Lord,  testify  in  thy  presence,  that  my  repentance 
and  faith  are  such  as  have  been  described,  or  at  least 
that  it  is  my  earnest  prayer  that  they  may  be  so  ? 
Come,  therefore,  0  thou  blessed  Spirit,  who  art  the 
author  of  all  grace  and  consolation,  and  work  this 
temper  more  fully  in  my  soul.  0  represent  sin  to 
.mine  eyes  in  all  its  most  odious  colors,  that  I  may 


190  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

feel  a  mortal  and  irreconcilable  hatred  to  it.  0  rep- 
resent the  majesty  and  mercy  of  the  blessed  God  in 
such  a  manner  that  my  heart  may  be  alarmed,  and 
that  it  may  be  melted.  Smite  the  rock,  that  the 
waters  may  flow,  Psalms  78  :  20 — waters  of  genu- 
ine, undissembled,  and  filial  repentance.  Convince 
me,  0  thou  blessed  Spirit,  of  sin,  of  righteousness, 
and  of  judgment.  John  16  :  8.  Show  me  that  I 
have  undone  myself;  but  that  my  help  is  found  in 
God  alone,  Hos.  13  :  9,  in  God  through  Christ,  in 
whom  alone  he  will  extend  compassion  and  help  to 
me.  According  to  thy  peculiar  office,  take  of  Christ 
and  show  it  unto  me.  John  16  :  15.  Show  me  his 
power  to  save.  Show  me  his  willingness  to  exert 
that  power.  Teach  my  faith  to  behold  him  as  ex- 
tended on  the  cross,  with  open  arms,  with  a  pierced, 
bleeding  side  ;  and  so  telling  me,  in  the  most  forcible 
language,  what  room  there  is  in  his  very  heart  for 
me.  May  I  know  what  it  is  to  have  my  whole 
heart  subdued  by  love  ;  so  subdued  as  to  be  crucified 
with  him,  Rom.  6  :  6  ;  to  be  dead  to  sin  and  dead  to 
the  world,  but  alive  unto  God,  through  Jesus  Christ. 
Rom.  6:11.  In  his  power  and  love  may  I  confide. 
To  him  may  I  without  any  reserve  commit  my  spirit. 
His  image  may  I  bear.  His  laws  may  I  observe.  His 
service  may  I  pursue.  And  may  I  remain,  through 
time  and  eternity,  a  monument  of  the  efficacy  of  his 
Gospel,  and  a  trophy  of  his  victorious  grace. 


REPENTANCE  AND  FAITH.  191 

"  0  blessed  God,  if  there  be  any  thing  wanting 
towards  constituting  me  a  sincere  Christian,  discover 
it  to  me,  and  work  it  in  me.  Beat  down,  I  beseech 
thee,  every  false  and  presumptuous  hope,  how  costly 
soever  that  building  may  have  been  which  is  thus 
laid  in  ruins,  and  how  proud  soever  I  may  have  been 
of  its  vain  ornaments.  Let  me  know  the  worst  of 
my  case,  be  that  knowledge  ever  so  distressing ;  and 
if  there  be  remaining  danger,  0  let  my  heart  be  fully 
sensible  of  it,  sensible  while  yet  there  is  a  remedy. 

"  If  there  be  any  secret  sin  yet  lurking  in  my  soul, 
which  I  have  not  sincerely  renounced,  discover  it  to 
me,  and  rend  it  out  of  my  heart,  though  it  may  have 
shot  its  roots  ever  so  deep,  and  have  wrapped  them 
all  around  it,  so  that  every  nerve  shall  be  pained  by 
the  separation.  Tear  it  away,  0  Lord,  by  a  hand 
graciously  severe.  And  by  degrees,  yea,  Lord,  by 
speedy  advances,  go  on,  I  beseech  thee,  to  perfect 
what  is  still  lacking  in  my  faith.  1  Thess.  3:10. 
Accomplish  in  me  all  the  good  pleasure  of  thy  good- 
ness. 2  Thess.  1  :  11.  Enrich  me,  0  heavenly 
Father,  with  all  the  graces  of  thy  Spirit ;  form  me 
to  the  complete  image  of  thy  dear  Son ;  and  then, 
for  his  sake,  come  unto  me,  and  manifest  thy  gracious 
presence  in  my  soul,  John  14  :  21,  23,  till  it  is 
ripened  for  that  state  of  glory  for  which  all  these 
operations  are  intended  to  prepare  it.  Amen/' 


RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

A  MORE  PARTICULAR  VIEW  OF  THE  SEVERAL  BRANCHES 
OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  TEMPER,  BY  WHICH  THE  READER 
MAY  BE  FARTHER  ASSISTED  IN  JUDGING  WHAT  HE  IS, 
AND  WHAT  HE  SHOULD  ENDEAVOR  TO  BE. 

1,  2.  The  importance  of  the  case  engages  to  a  more  par- 
ticular survey  what  manner  of  spirit  we  are  of. — 3.  Accord- 
ingly the  Christian  temper  is  described,  by  some  general  views 
of  it,  as  a  new  and  divine  temper. — 4.  As  resembling  that  of 
Christ. — 5.  And  as  engaging  us  to  be  spiritually  minded,  and 
to  walk  by  faith. — 6.  A  plan  of  the  remainder. — 7.  In  which 
the  Christian  temper  is  more  particularly  considered  with 
regard  to  the  blessed  God ;  as  including  fear,  affection,  and 
obedience. — 8,  9.  Faith  and  love  to  Christ. — 10.  Joy  in 
Him. — 11-13.  And  a  proper  temper  towards  the  Holy  Spirit, 
particularly  as  a  spirit  of  adoption  and  of  courage. — 14.  With 
regard  to  ourselves  ;  as  including  preference  of  the  soul  to 
the  body,  humility,  purity. — 15.  Temperance. — 16.  Content- 
ment.— 17.  And  Patience. — 18.  With  regard  to  our  fellow- 
creatures  ;  as  including  Love. — 19.  Meekness. — 20.  Peace- 
ableness. — 21.  Mercy. — 22.  Truth. — 23.  And  candor  in 
judging. — 24.  General  qualifications  of  each  branch. — 25. 
Such  as  Sincerity. — 26.  Constancy. — 27.  Tenderness. — 28. 
Zeal. — 29.  And  Prudence. — 30.  These  things  should  fre- 
quently be  recollected. — A  review  of  all  in  a  scriptural  prayer. 

1.  WHEN  I  consider  the  infinite  importance  of 
eternity,  I  find  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  satisfy  my- 
self in  any  thing  which  I  can  say  to  men,  where 
tlieir  eternal  interests  are  concerned.  I  have  given 


THE  CHRISTIAN  TEMPER.  193 

you  a  view,  I  hope  I  may  truly  say,  a  just  as  well  as 
a  faithful  view,  of  a  truly  Christian  temper  already. 
Yet,  for  your  farther  assistance,  I  would  offer  it  to 
your  consideration  in  various  points  of  light,  that  you 
may  be  assisted  in  judging  of  what  you  are  and  what 
you  ought  to  be.  And  in  this  I  aim,  not  only  at  your 
conviction,  if  you  are  yet  a  stranger  to  real  religion, 
but  at  your  farther  edification,  if,  by  the  grace  of 
God,  you  are  by  this  time  experimentally  acquainted 
with  it.  Happy  you  will  be,  happy  beyond  expres- 
sion, if,  as  you  go  on  from  one  article  to  another, 
you  can  say,  "  This  is  my  temper  and  character." 
Happy  in  no  inconsiderable  degree,  if  you  can  say, 
"  This  is  what  I  desire,  what  I  pray  for,  and  what  I 
pursue,  in  preference  to  every  opposite  view,  though 
it  be  not  what  I  have  as  yet  attained." 

2.  Search,  then,  and  try  "  what  manner  of  spirit 
you    are   of."     Luke   9  :  55.      And   may  He   that 
searcheth  all  hearts  direct  the  inquiry,  and  enable 
you  "  so  to  judge  yourself,  that  you  may  not  be  con- 
demned of  the  Lord."     1  Cor.  11  :  31,  32. 

3.  Know,  in  the  general,  "  that  if  you  are  a  Chris- 
tian indeed,  you  have  been  *  renewed  in  the  spirit  of 
your  mind,'  Eph.  4  :  23,  so  renewed  as  to  be  regen- 
erated and  born  again."     It  is  not  enough  to  have 
assumed  a  new  name,  to  have  been  brought  under 
some   new  restraints,  or  to   have   made    a   partial 
change  in  some  particulars  of  your  conduct.     The 

Rise  and  Prog.  •  J3 


194  RISE   AND    PROGRESS. 

change  must  be  great  and  universal.  Inquire,  then, 
whether  you  have  entertained  new  apprehensions  of 
things,  have  formed  a  practical  judgment  different 
from  what  you  formerly  did  ;  whether  the  ends  you 
propose,  the  affections  which  you  feel  working  in 
your  heart,  and  the  course  of  action  to  which,  by 
those  affections,  you  are  directed,  be,  on  the  whole, 
new  or  old.  Again,  "  If  you  are  a  Christian  indeed, 
you  are  a  '  partaker  of  a  divine  nature,'  2  Peter,  1  : 4, 
divine  in  its  original,  its  tendency,  and  its  resem- 
blance." Inquire,  therefore,  whether  God  hath  im- 
planted a  principle  in  your  heart  which  tends  to 
him,  and  which  makes  you  like  him.  Search  your 
soul  attentively,  to  see  if  you  have  really  the  image 
there  of  God's  moral  perfections,  of  his  holiness  and 
righteousness,  his  goodness  and  fidelity ;  for  "  the 
new  man  is,  after  God,  created  in  righteousness  and 
true  holiness,"  Eph.  4  :  24,  "  and  is  renewed  in 
knowledge  after  -the  image  of  him  that  created 
him."  Col.  3  :  10. 

4.  For  your  farther  assistance,  inquire  "  whether 
'  the  same  mind  be  in  you  which  was  always  in 
Christ.'  Phil.  2:5.  Whether  you  bear  the  imago 
of  God's  incarnate  Son,  the  brightest  and  fairest  re- 
semblance of  the  Father  which  heaven  or  earth  has 
ever  beheld."  The  blessed  Jesus  designed  himself  to 
be  a  model  for  all  his  followers  ;  and  he  is  certainly 
a  model  most  fit  for  our  imitation — an  example  in 


THE   CHRISTIAN   TEMPER.  195 

our  own  nature,  and  in  circumstances  adapted  to 
general  use — an  example  recommended  to  us  at  once 
by  its  spotless  perfection,  and  by  the  endearing  rela- 
tions in  which  he  stands  to  us,  as  our  Master,  our 
Friend,  and  our  Head ;  as  the  person  by  whom  our 
everlasting  state  is  to  be  fixed,  and  in  resemblance  to 
whom  our  final  happiness  is  to  consist,  if  ever  we 
are  happy  at  all.  Look,  then,  into  the  life  and  tem- 
per of  Christ,  as  described  and  illustrated  in  the 
Gospel,  and  search  whether  you  can  find  any  thing 
like  it  in  your  own.  Have  you  any  thing  of  his  de- 
votion, love,  and  resignation  to  God  ?  Any  thing  of 
his  humility,  meekness,  and  benevolence  to  men  ? 
Any  thing  of  his  purity  and  wisdom,  his  contempt 
of  the  world,  his  patience,  his  fortitude,  his  zeal  ? 
And  indeed  all  the  other  branches  of  the  Christian 
temper,  which  do  not  imply  previous  guilt  in  the 
person  by  whom  they  are  exercised,  may  be  called 
in  to  illustrate  and  assist  your  inquiries  under  this 
head. 

5.  Let  me  add,  "  If  you  are  a  Christian,  you  are 
in  the  main  '  spiritually  minded,'  as  knowing  'that 
is  life  and  peace  ;'  whereas,  '  to  be  carnally  minded 
is  death.'  "  Rom.  8  :  6.  Though  you  "  live  in  the 
flesh,  you  will  not  war  after  it,"  2  Cor.  10:3,  you 
will  not  take  your  orders  and  your  commands  from 
it.  You  will  indeed  attend  to  its  necessary  interests 
as  matter  of  duty ;  but  it  will  still  be  with  regard  to 


196  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

another  and  a  nobler  interest,  that  of  the  rational 
and  immortal  spirit.  Your  thoughts,  your  affections, 
your  pursuits,  your  choice,  will  be  determined  by  a 
regard  to  things  spiritual  rather  than  carnal.  In  a 
word,  "  you  will  walk  by  faith,  and  not  by  sight." 
2  Cor.  5:7.  Future,  invisible,  and  in  some  degree, 
incomprehensible  objects,  will  take  up  your  mind. 
Your  faith  will  act  on  the  being  of  God,  his  perfec- 
tions, his  providences,  his  precepts,  his  threatenings, 
and  his  promises.  It  will  act  upon  Christ,  "  whom 
having  not  seen,"  you  will  "  love  and  honor."  1  Pet. 
1:8.  It  will  act  on  that  unseen  world,  which  it 
knows  to  be  eternal,  and  therefore  infinitely  more 
worthy  of  your  affectionate  regard  than  any  of 
"those  things  which  are  seen  and  are  temporal." 
2  Cor.  4  :  18. 

6.  These  are  general  views  of  the  Christian  tem- 
per, on  which  I  would  entreat  you  to  examine  your- 
self; and  now  I  would  go  on  to  lead 'you  into  a  sur- 
vey of  the  grand  branches  of  it,  as  relating  to  God, 
our  neighbor,  and  ourselves  ;  and  of  those  qualifica- 
tions which  must  attend  each  of  these   branches, 
such  as  sincerity,   constancy,  tenderness,  zeal,  and 
prudence.     And  I  beg  your  diligent  attention,  while 
I  lay  before  you  a  few  hints  with  regard  to  each,  by 
which  you  may  judge  the  better  both  of  your  state 
and  your  duty. 

7.  Examine,  then,  I  entreat  you,  "the  temper  of 


THE  CHRISTIAN   TEMPER.  197 

your  heart  with  regard  to  the  blessed  God."  Do  you 
find  there  a  reverential  fear,  and  a  supreme  love  and 
veneration  for  his  incomparable  excellencies,  a  desire 
after  him  as  the  highest  good,  and  a  cordial  gratitude 
towards  him  as  your  supreme  benefactor  ?  Can^ou 
trust  his  care  ?  Can  you  credit  his  testimony  ?  Do 
you  desire  to  pay  an  unreserved  obedience  to  all  that 
he  commands,  and  an  humble  submission  to  all  the 
disposals  of  his  providence  ?  Do  you  design  his  glory 
as  your  noblest  end,  and  make  it  the  great  business 
of  your  life  to  approve  yourself  to  him  ?  Is  it  your 
governing  care  to  imitate  him,  and  to  "  serve  him  in 
spirit  and  in  truth  ?"  John  4  :  24. 

8.  Faith  in  Christ  I  have  already  described  at 
large,  and  therefore  shall  say  nothing  farther,  either 
of  that  persuasion  of  his  power  and  grace,  which  is 
the  great  foundation  of  it,  or  of  that  acceptance  of 
Christ  under  all  his  characters,  or  that  surrender  of 
the  soul  into  his  hands,  in  which  its  peculiar  and 
distinguishing  nature  consists. 

9.  If  this  faith  in  Christ  be  sincere,  "  it  will  un- 
doubtedly produce  a  love  to  him,"  which  will  ex- 
press itself  in  affectionate  thoughts  of  him  ;  in  strict 
fidelity  to  him  ;  in  a  careful  observation  of  his  charge ; 
in  a  regard  to  his  spirit,  to  his  friends,  and  to  his 
interests ;  in  a  reverence  to  the  memorials  of  his 
dying  love  which  he  has  instituted  ;  and  in  an  ardent 
desire  after  that  heavenly  world  where  he  dwells, 


198  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

and  where  he  will  at  length  "  have  all  his  people  to 
dwell  with  him."     John  17  :  24. 

10.  I  may  add,  agreeably  to  the  word  of  God, 
"  that  thus  believing  in  Christ  and  loving  him,  yon 
will  also  rejoice  in  him  ;"  in  his  glorious  design, 
and  in  his  complete  fitness  to  accomplish  it ;  in  the 
promises  of  his  word,  and  in  the  privileges  of  his 
people.     It  will  be  matter  of  joy  to  you,  that  such  a 
Redeemer  has  appeared  in  this  world  of  ours ;  and 
your  joy  for  yourself  will  be  proportionable  to  the 
degree  of  clearness  with  which  you  discern  your  in- 
terest  in  him,  and  relation  to  him. 

1 1 .  Let  me  farther  lead  you  into  some  reflections 
on  "  the  temper  of  your  heart  towards  the  blessed 
Spirit."     If  "  we  have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  we 
are  none  of  his."     Rom.  8:9.     If  we  are  not  "  led 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  we  are  not  the  children  of 
God."     Rom.  8  :  14.     You  will  then,  if  you  are  a 
real  Christian,  desire  that  you  may  "  be  filled  with 
the  Spirit,"  Eph.  5  :  18  ;  that  you  may  have  every 
power  of  your  soul  subject  to  his  authority  ;  that  his 
agency  on  your  heart  may  be  more  constant,  more 
operative,  and  more  delightful.    And  to  cherish  these 
sacred  influences,  you  will  often  have  recourse  to 
serious  consideration  and  meditation ;  you  will  ab- 
stain from  those  sins  which  tend  to  grieve  him ;  you 
will  improve  the  tender  seasons,  in  which  he  seems 
to  breathe  upon  your  soul ;  you  will  strive  earnestly 


THE   CHRISTIAN   TEMPER.  199 

with  God  in  prayer,  that  you  may  have  him  "  shed 
on  you  still  more  abundantly  through  Jesus  Christ," 
Tit.  3:6;  and  you  will  be  desirous  to  fall  in  with 
the  end  of  his  mission,  which  was  to  glorify  Christ, 
John  16  :  14,  and  to  establish  his  kingdom.  "  You 
will  desire  his  influences  as  the  Spirit  of  adoption," 
to  render  your  acts  of  worship  free  and  affectionate, 
your  obedience  vigorous,  your  sorrow  for  sin  overflow- 
ing and  tender,  your  resignation  meek,  and  your  love 
ardent :  in  a  word,  to  carry  you  through  life  and  death 
with  the  temper  of  a  child  who  delights  in  his  father, 
and  who  longs  for  his  more  immediate  presence. 

12.  Once  more,  "  If  you  are  a  Christian  indeed, 
you  will  be  desirous  to  obtain  the  spirit  of  courage." 
Amidst  all  that  humility  of  soul  to  which  you  will 
be  formed,  you  will  wish  to  commence  a  hero  in  the 
cause  of  Christ,  opposing,  with  a  vigorous   resolu- 
tion, the  strongest  efforts  of  the  powers  of  darkness, 
the  inward  corruptions  of  your  own  heart,  and  all 
the  outward  difficulties  you  may  meet  with  in  the 
way  of  your  duty,  while  in  the  cause  and  in  the 
strength  of  Christ  you  go  on  "  conquering  and  to 
conquer." 

13.  All  these  things  may  be  considered  as  branches 
of  godliness  ;  of  that  godliness  which  is  "  profitable 
unto  all  things,"  and  hath  the  "  promise  of  the  life 
which   now   is,  and   of  that   which  is  to   come." 
1  Tim.  4  :  8. 


200  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

14.  Let  me  now  farther  lay  before  you  some 
branches  of  the  Christian  temper  "which  relate 
more  immediately  to  ourselves."  And  here,  if  you 
are  a  Christian  indeed,  you  will  undoubtedly  prefer 
the  soul  to  the  body,  and  things  eternal  to  those  that 
are  temporal.  Conscious  of  the  dignity  and  value 
of  your  immortal  part,  you  will  come  to  a  firm  reso- 
lution to  secure  its  happiness,  whatever  is  to  be  re- 
signed, whatever  is  to  be  endured  in  fhat  view.  If 
you  are  a  real  Christian,  you  will  be  also  "  clothed 
with  humility."  1  Pet.  5  :  5.  You  will  have  a 
deep  sense  of  your  own  imperfections,  both  natural 
and  moral ;  of  the  short  extent  of  your  knowledge  ; 
of  the  uncertainty  and  weakness  of  your  resolutions  ; 
and  of  your  continual  dependence  upon  God,  and 
upon  almost  every  thing  about  you.  And  especially 
will  you  be  deeply  sensible  of  your  guilt ;  the  re- 
membrance of  which  will  fill  you  with  shame  and 
confusion,  even  when  you  have  some  reason  to  hope 
it  is  forgiven.  This  will  forbid  all  haughtiness  and 
insolence  in  your  behavior  to  your  fellow-creatures. 
It  will  teach  you,  under  afflictive  providences,  with 
all  holy  submission  to  bear  the  indignation  of  the 
Lord,  as  those  that  know  they  "  have  sinned  against 
him."  Micah  7:9.  Again,  if  you  are  a  Christian 
indeed,  "  you  will  labor  after  purity  of  soul,"  and 
maintain  a  fixed  abhorrence  of  all  prohibited  sensual 
indulgence.  A  recollection  of  past  impurities  will 


THE  CHRISTIAN  TEMPER.  201 

fill  you  with  shame  and  grief,  and  you  will  endeavor 
for  the  future  to  guard  your  thoughts  and  desires,  as 
well  as  your  words  and  actions,  and  to  abstain,  not 
only  from  the  commission  of  evil,  but  "  from  the  " 
distant  "  appearance  "  and  probable  occasions  "  of 
it,"  1  Thess.  5  :  22  ;  as  conscious  of  the  perfect  holi- 
ness of  that  God  with  whom  you  converse,  and  of 
the  "  purifying  nature  of  that  hope,"  1  John  3  :  3, 
which  by  his  Gospel  he  hath  taught  you  to  entertain. 

15.  With  this  is  nearly  allied  "that  amiable  vir- 
tue of  temperance,"  which  will  teach  you  to  guard 
against  such  a  use  of  meats  and  drinks  as  indis- 
poses the  body  for  the  service  of  the  soul ;  or  such 
an  indulgence  in  either,  as  will  rob  you  of  that  pre- 
cious jewel,  your  time,  or  occasion  an  expense  beyond 
what  your  circumstances  will  admit,   and  beyond 
what  will  consist  with  what  you  owe  to  the  cause  of 
Christ,  and  those  liberalities  to  the  poor  which  your 
relation  and  theirs  to  God  and  each  other  will  re- 
quire.    In  short,  you  will  guard  against  whatever 
has  a  tendency  to  increase  a   sensual  disposition, 
against  whatever  would  alienate  the  soul  from  com- 
munion with  God,  and  would  diminish  its  zeal  and 
activity  in  his  service. 

16.  The  divine  philosophy  of  the  blessed  Jesus 
will  also  teach  you  "a  contented  temper."     It  will 
moderate  your  desires  of  those  worldly  enjoyments 
after  which  many  feel  such  an  insatiable  thirst,  evei 


202    '  RISE  AND   PROGRESS. 

growing  with  indulgence  and  success.  You  will 
guard  against  an  immoderate  care  about  those  things 
which  would  lead  you  into  'a  forgetfulness  of  your 
heavenly  inheritance.  If  Providence  disappoint  your 
undertakings,  you  will  submit;  if  others  be  more 
prosperous,  you  will  not  envy  them,  but  rather  will 
be  thankful  for  what  God  is  pleased  to  bestow  upon 
them,  as  well  as  for  what  he  gives  you.  No  unlaw- 
ful methods  will  be  used  to  alter  your  present  condi- 
tion ;  and  whatever  it  is,  you  will  endeavor  to  make 
the  best  of  it,  remembering  it  is  what  infinite  wisdom 
and  goodness  have  appointed  you,  and  that  it  is  be 
yond  all  comparison  better  than  you  have  deserved ; 
yea,  that  the  very  deficiences  and  inconveniences  of 
it  may  conduce  to  the  improvement  of  your  future 
and  complete  happiness. 

17.  With  contentment,  if  you  are  a  disciple  of 
Christ,  "  you  will  join  patience  too,"  and  "  in  patience 
will  possess  your  soul."  Luke  21  : 19.  You  can- 
not indeed  be  quite  insensible  either  of  afflictions  or 
injuries;  but  your  mind  will  be  calm  and  composed 
under  them,  and  steady  in  the  prosecution  of  proper 
duty,  though  afflictions  press,  and  though  your  hopes, 
your  dearest  hopes  and  prospects  be  delayed.  Pa- 
tience will  prevent  hasty  and  rash  conclusions,  and 
fortify  you  against  seeking  irregular  methods  of  re- 
lief; disposing  you,  in  the  meantime,  till  God  shall 
be  pleased  to  appear  for  you,  to  go  on  steadily  in  the 


THE   CHRISTIAN    TEMPER.  203 

way  of  your  duty;  "committing  yourself  to  him  in 
well-doing."  1  Pet.  4:19.  You  will  also  be  care- 
ful that  "patience  may  have  its  perfect  work,"  James 
1  : 4,  and  prevail  in  proportion  to  those  circumstances 
which  demand  its  peculiar  exercise.  For  instance, 
when  the  successions  of  evil  are  long  and  various, 
BO  that  "deep  calls  to  deep,"  and  "all  God's  waves 
and  billows  seem  to  be  going  over  you,"  one  after 
another,  Psa.  42  :  7 ;  when  God  touches  you  in  the 
most  tender  part ;  when  the  reasons  of  his  conduct 
to  you  are  quite  unaccountable ;  when  your  natural 
spirits  are  weak  and  decayed ;  when  unlawful  meth- 
ods of  redress  seem  near  and  easy  ;  still,  your  rever- 
ence for  the  will  of  your  heavenly  Father  will  carry 
it  against  all,  and  keep  you  waiting  quietly  for  de- 
liverance in  his  own  time  and  way. 

18.  I  have  thus  led  you  into  a  brief  review  of  the 
Christian  temper,  with  respect  to  God  and  ourselves : 
permit  me  now  to  add,  "  that  the  Gospel  will  teach 
you  another  set  of  very  important  lessons  with  re- 
spect to  your  fellow-creatures."  They  all  are  sum- 
med up  in  this,  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thy- 
self," Rom.  13  :  9;  and  "whatsoever  thou  wouldst," 
that  is,  whatsoever  thou  couldst,  in  an  exchange  of 
circumstances,  fairly  and  reasonably  desire,  "that 
others  should  do  unto  thee,  do  thou  likewise  the  same 
unto  them."  Matt.  7  :  12.  The  religion  of  the 
blessed  Jesus,  when  it  triumphs  in  your  soul,  will 


204  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

conquer  the  predominancy  of  an  irregular  self-love, 
and  will  teach  you  candidly  and  tenderly  to  look  upon 
your  neighbor  as  another  self.  As  you  are  sensible 
of  your  own  rights,  you  will  be  sensible  of  his :  as 
you  support  your  own  character,  you  will  support  his. 
You  will  desire  his  welfare,  and  be  ready  to  relieve 
his  necessity,  as  you  would  have  your  own  consulted 
by  another.  You  will  put  the  kindest  construction 
upon  his  most  dubious  words  and  actions.  You  will 
take  pleasure  in  his  happiness ;  you  will  feel  his  dis- 
tress, in  some  measure,  as  your  own.  And  most 
happy  will  you  be,  when  this  obvious  rule  is  familiar 
to  your  mind,  when  this  golden  law  is  written  upon 
your  heart,  and  when  it  is  habitually  and  impartially 
consulted  by  you  upon  every  occasion,  whether  great 
or  small. 

19.  The  Gospel  will  also  teach  you  "to  put  on 
meekness,"  Col.  3:12,  not  only  with  respect  to  God, 
submitting  to  the  authority  of  his  word,  and  the 
disposal  of  his  providence,  as  was  urged  before,  but 
also  with  regard  to  your  brethren  of  mankind.  Its 
gentle  instructions  will  form  you  to  calmness  of  tem- 
per under  injuries  and  provocations,  so  that  you  may 
not  be  angry  without,  or  beyond  just  cause.  It  will 
engage  you  to  guard  your  words,  lest  you  provoke  and 
exasperate  those  you  should  rather  study  by  love  to 
gain,  and  by  tenderness  to  heal.  Meekness  will  ren- 
der you  slow  in  using  any  rough  and  violent  meth- 


THE    CHRISTIAN    TEMPER.  205 

ods,  if  they  can  by  any  means  be  lawfully  avoided  ; 
and  ready  to  admit,  and  even  to  propose  a  reconcilia- 
tion, after  they  have  been  entered  into,  if  there  may 
yet  be  hope  of  succeeding.  So  far  as  this  branch  of 
the  Christian  temper  prevails  in  your  heart,  you  will 
take  care  to  avoid  every  thing  which  might  give  un- 
necessary offence  to  others ;  you  will  behave  yourself 
in  a  modest  manner,  according  to  your  station ;  and 
it  will  work,  both  with  regard  to  superiors  and  in- 
feriors— teaching  you  duly  to  honor  the  one,  and  not 
to  overbear  or  oppress,  to  grieve  or  insult  the  other. 
And  in  religion  itself,  it  will  restrain  all  immoderate 
sallies  and  harsh  censure  ;  and  will  command  down 
that  wrath  of  man,  which,  instead  of  working,  so 
often  opposes  the  righteousness  of  God,  James- 1  :  20, 
and  shames  and  wounds  that  good  cause  in  which  it 
is  boisterously  and  furiously  engaged. 

20.  With  this  is  naturally  connected  "a  peaceful 
disposition."  If  you  are  a  Christian  indeed,  you  will 
have  such  a  value  and  esteem  for  peace,  as  to  en- 
deavor to  obtain,  and  to  preserve  it,  "as  much  as 
lieth  in  you,"  Rom.  12  :  18 — as  much  as  you  fairly 
and  honorably  can.  This  will  have  such  an  influ*- 
ence  upon  your  conduct,  as  to  make  you  not  only 
cautious  of  giving  offence,  and  slow  in  taking  it,  but 
earnestly  desirous  to  regain  peace  as  soon  as  may 
be,  when  it  is  in  any  measure  broken,  that  the  wound 
may  be  healed  while  it  is  green,  and  before  it  begins 


206  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

to  rankle  and  fester.  And  more  especially,  this  dis- 
position will  engage  you  "to  keep  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace,"  Eph.  4  :  3,  "  with  all 
that  in  every  place  call  on  the  name  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,"  1  Cor.  1:2;  whom  if  you  truly  love, 
you  will  also  love  all  those  whom  you  have  reason  to 
believe  to  be  his  disciples  and  servants. 

21.  If  yeu  be  yourselves  indeed  of  that  number, 
"you  will  also  put  on  bowels  of  mercy."     Col.  3  : 12. 
The  mercies  of  God,  and  those  of  the  blessed  Re- 
deemer, will  work  on  your  heart,  to  mould  it  to  sen- 
timents of  compassion  and  generosity,  so  that  you 
will  feel  the  wants  and  sorrows  of  others ;  you  will 
desire  to  relieve  their  necessities ;  and  as  you  have 
an  opportunity,  you  will  do  good  both  to  their  bodies 
and  their  souls;  expressing  your  kind  affections  in 
suitable  actions,  which  may  both  evidence  their  sin- 
cerity and  render  them  effectual. 

22.  As  a  Christian,  "you  will  also  maintain  truth 
inviolable,"   not  only  in   your  solemn  testimonies, 
when  confirmed  by  an  oath,  but  likewise  in  common 
conversation.      You  will  remember,  too,  that  your 
promises  bring  an  obligation  upon  you,  which  you 
are  by  no  means  at  liberty  to  break  through.     On 
the  whole,  you  will  be  careful  to  keep  a  strict  cor- 
respondence between  your  words  and  your  actions,  in. 
such  a  manner  as  becomes  a  servant  of  the  God  of 
truth. 


THE   CHRISTIAN    TEMPER.  207 

23.  Once  more,  as,  amidst  the  strictest  care  to  ob- 
serve all  the  divine  precepts,  you  will  still  find  many 
imperfections,  on  account  of  which  you  will  be  ob- 
liged to  pray  that  "God  would  not  enter  into  strict 
judgment  with  you,"  as  well  knowing  "that  in  his 
sight  you  cannot  be  justified,"  Psa.  143  :  2,  you  will 
be  careful  not  to  judge  others  "  in  such  a  manner  as 
should  awaken  the  severity  of  '  his  judgment  against 
yourself  "    Matt.  7:1,2.    You  will  not,  therefore, 
judge  them  impertinently,  when  you  have  nothing  to 
do  with  their  actions ;  nor  rashly,  without  inquiring 
into  circumstances ;  nor  partially,  without  weighing 
them  attentively  and  fairly ;  nor  uncharitably,  putting 
the  worst  construction  upon  things  in  their  own  na- 
ture dubious — deciding  upon  intentions  as  evil,  far- 
ther than  they  certainly  appear  to  be  so — pronounc- 
ing on  the  state  of  men,  or  on  the  whole  of  their 
character,  from  any  particular  action,  and  involving 
the  innocent  with  the  guilty.     There  is  a  moderation 
contrary  to  all  these  extremes,  which  the  Gospel 
recommends ;  and  if  you  receive  the  Gospel  in  good 
earnest  into  your  heart,  it  will  lay  the  axe  to  the 
root  of  such  evils  as  these. 

24.  Having  thus  briefly  illustrated  the  principal 
branches  of  the  Christian  temper  and  character,  I 
shall  conclude  the  representation,   with  reminding 
you  of  "some  general  qualifications  which  must  be 
mingled  with  all,  and  give  a  tincture  to  each  of 


208  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

them — such  as  sincerity,  constancy,  tenderness,  zeal, 
and  prudence." 

25.  Always  remember,  that  "sincerity  is  the  very 
soul  of  true  religion."     A  single  intention  to  please 
God,  and  to  approve  ourselves  to  him,  must  animate 
and  govern  all  that  we  do  in  it.    Under  the  influence 
of  this  principle  you  will  impartially  inquire  into 
every  intimation  of  duty,  and  apply  to  the  practice 
of  it  so  far  as  it  is  known  to  you.    Your  heart  will  be 
engaged  in  all  you  do.    Your  conduct,  in  private  and 
in  secret,  will  be  agreeable  to  your  most  public  be- 
havior.    A  sense  of  the  divine  authority  will  teach 
you   "  to  esteem  all  God's  precepts  concerning  all 
things  to  be  right,  and  to  hate  every  false  way." 
Psa.  119  :  128. 

26.  Thus  are  you,  "in  simplicity  and  godly  sin- 
cerity to  have  your  conversation  in  the  world."     2 
Cor.  1  :  12.     And  "you  are  also  to  charge  it  upon 
your  soul  'to  be  steadfast  and  immovable,  always 
abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord/  "    1  Cor.  15 : 58. 
There  must  not  only  be  some  sudden  fits  and  starts 
of  devotion,  or  of  something  which  looks  like  it,  but 
religion  must  be  an  habitual  and  permanent  thing. 
There  must  be  a  purpose  to  adhere  to  it  at  all  times. 
It  must  be  made  the  stated  and  ordinary  business  of 
life.    Deliberate  and  presumptuous  sins  must  be  care- 
fully avoided ;  a  guard  must  be  maintained  against 
the  common  infirmities  of  life ;  and  falls  of  one  kind 


THE   CHRISTIAN   TEMPER.  209 

or  of  another  must  be  matter  of  proportionable  hu- 
miliation before  God,  and  must  occasion  renewed 
resolution  for  his  service.  And  thus  you  are  to  go 
on  to  the  end  of  your  life,  not  discouraged  by  the 
length  and  difficulty  of  the  way,  nor  allured  on  the 
one  hand,  or  terrified  'on  the  other,  by  all  the  vari- 
ous temptations  which  may  surround  and  assault 
you.  Your  soul  must  be  fixed  on  this  basis,  and 
you  are  still  to  behave  yourself  as  one  who  knows 
he  serves  an  unchangeable  God,  and  who  expects 
from  him  "a  kingdom  which  cannot  be  moved." 
Heb.  12  :  28. 

27.  Again,  so  far  as  the  gospel  prevails  in  your 
heart,  "  your  spirit  will  be  tender,  and  the  stone  will 
be  transformed  into  flesh."  You  will  desire  that 
your  apprehensions  of  divine  things  may  be  quick, 
your  affections  ready  to  take  proper  impressions,  your 
conscience  always  easily  touched,  and  on  the  whole, 
your  resolutions  pliant  to  the  divine  authority,  and 
cordially  willing  to  be  and  to  do  whatever  God  shall 
appoint.  You  will  have  a  tender  regard  to  the  word 
of  God,  a  tender  caution  against  sin,  a  tender  guard 
against  the  snares  of  prosperity,  a  tender  submission 
to  God's  afflicting  hand ;  in  a  word,  you  will  be  ten- 
der wherever  the  divine  honor  is  concerned,  and 
careful  neither  to  do  any  thing  yourself,  nor  to  allow 
any  thing  in  another,  so  far  as  you  can  influence,  by 
which  God  should  be  offended,  or  religion  reproached. 

Rise  &  Prog.  1 4 


210  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

28.  Nay,  more  than  all  this,  you  will,  so  far  as 
true  Christianity  governs  in  your  mind,  "  exert  a 
holy  zeal  in  the  service  of  your  Redeemer  and  your 
Father."     You  will  be  "  zealously  affected  in  every 
good  thing,"  Gal.  4  :  18,  in  proportion  to  its  appre- 
hended goodness  and  importance.     You  will  be  zeal- 
ous, especially  to  correct  what  is  irregular  in  your- 
self, and  to  act  to  the  utmost  of  your  ability  for  the 
cause  of  God.    Nor  will  you  be  able  to  look  with  an 
indifferent  eye  on  the  conduct  of  others  in  this  viewT ; 
but  so  far  as  charity,  meekness,  and  prudence  will 
admit,  you  will  testify  your  disapprobation  of  every 
thing  in  it  which  is  dishonorable  to  God  and  inju- 
rious to  men.     And  you  will  labor,  hot  only  to  re- 
claim men  from  such  courses,  but  'to  engage  them  to 
religion,  and  quicken  them  in  it. 

29.  And  once  more,  you  will  desire  "to  use  the 
prudence  which  God  hath  given  you,"  in  judging 
what  is,  in  present  circumstances,  your  duty  to  God, 
your  neighbor,  and  yourself — what  will  be,  on  the 
whole,  the  most  acceptable  manner  of  discharging 
it,  and  how  far  it  may  be  most  advantageously  pur- 
sued ;  as  remembering  that  he  is  indeed  the  wisest 
and  the  happiest  man,  who,  by  constant  attention  of 
thought,  discovers  the  greatest  opportunities  of  doing 
good,    and   with    ardent    and    animated   resolution 
breaks  through  every  opposition,  that  he  may  im- 
prove those  opportunities. 


THE  CHRISTIAN   TEMPER.  211 

30.  This  is  such  a  view  of  the  Christian  temper 
as  could  conveniently  be  thrown  within  such  narrow 
limits  ;  and  I  hope  it  may  assist  many  in  the  great 
and  important  work  of  self-examination.  Let  your 
own  conscience  answer,  how  far  you  have  already 
attained  it,  and  how  far  you  desire  it ;  and  let  the 
principal  topics  here  touched  upon  be  fixed  in  your 
memory  and  in  your  heart,  that  you  may  be  men- 
tioning them  before  God  in  your  daily  addresses  to 
the  throne  of  grace,  in  order  to  receive  from  him 
all  necessary  assistance  for  bringing  them  into  prac- 
tice. 

A  PRAYER,  CHIEFLY  IN  SCRIPTURE  LANGUAGE,  IN  WHICH 
THE  SEVERAL  BRANCHES  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  TEMPER 
ARE  MORE  BRIEFLY  ENUMERATED  IN  THE  ORDER  LAID 
DOWN  ABOVE. 

"  Blessed  God,  I  humbly  adore  thee  as  the  great 
Father  of  lights,  and  the  giver  of  every  good  and 
every  perfect  gift.  James  1:17.  From  thee,  there- 
fore, I  seek  every  blessing,  and  especially  those  which 
may  lead  me  to  thyself,  and  prepare  me  for  the  eter- 
nal enjoyment  of  thee.  I  adore  thee  as  the  God  who 
searches  the  hearts  and  tries  the  reins  of  the  children 
of  men.  Jer.  17  : 10.  Search  me,  0  God,  and  know 
my  heart ;  try  me,  and  know  my  thoughts  ;  and  see 
if  there  be  any  wicked  way  in  me,  and  lead  me  in 
the  way  everlasting.  Psa.  139  : 23,  24.  May  I  know 
what  manner  of  spirit  I  am  of,  Luke  9  :  55,  and  be 


212  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

preserved  from  mistaking,  where  the  error  might  be 
infinitely  fatal. 

"May  I,  0  Lord,  be  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  my 
mind.  Eph.  4  :  23.  A  new  heart  do  thou  give  me, 
and  a  new  spirit  do  thou  put  within  me.  Ezekiel 
36  : 26.  Make  me  partaker  of  a  divine  nature,  2  Pet. 
1:4;  and  as  he  who  hath  called  me  is  holy,  may  I 
be  holy  in  all  manner  of  conversation.  1  Pet.  1  : 15, 
May  the  same  mind  be  in  me  which  was  also  in 
Christ  Jesus,  Phil.  2:5;  may  I  so  walk  even  as  he 
walked.  1  John,  2:6.  Deliver  me  from  being  car- 
nally minded,  which  is  death  ;  and  make  me  spiritu- 
ally minded,  since  that  is  life  and  peace.  Rom.  8  :  6. 
And  may  I,  while  I  pass  through  this  world  of  sense, 
walk  by  faith,  and  not  by  sight,  2  Cor.  5  :  7,  and  be 
strong  in  faith,  giving  glory  to  God.  Horn.  4  :  20. 

"  May  thy  grace,  0  Lord,  which  hath  appeared 
unto  all  men,  and  appeared  to  me  with  such  glorious 
evidence  and  lustre,  effectually  teach  me  to  deny  un- 
godliness and  worldly  lusts,  and  to  live  soberly,  right- 
eously, and  godly.  Tit.  2:11,  12.  Work  in  my  heart 
that  godliness  which  is  profitable  unto  all  things,  1 
Tim.  4:8;  and  teach  me,  by  the  influence  of  thy 
blessed  Spirit,  to  love  thee,  the  Lord  my  God,  with 
all  my  heart,  and  with  all  my  soul,  and  with  all  my 
mind,  and  with  all  my  strength.  Mark  12  :  30.  May 
I  yield  myself  unto  thee,  as  alive  from  the  dead, 
Rom.  6:13,  and  present  my  body  a  living  sacrifice, 


THE  CHRISTIAN  TEMPER.  213 

holy  and  acceptable  in  thy  sight,  which  is  my  most 
reasonable  service.  Rom.  12  :  1.  May  I  entertain 
the  most  faithful  and  affectionate  regard  to  the 
blessed  Jesus,  thine  incarnate  Son,  the  brightness  of 
thy  glory,  and  the  express  image  of  thy  person.  Heb. 
1:3.  Though  I  have  not  seen  him,  may  I  love  him ; 
and  in  him,  though  now  I  see  him  not,  yet  believing, 
may  I  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory, 
1  Pet.  1:8;  and  may  the  life  which  I  live  in  the 
flesh  be  daily  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God.  Gal. 
2:20.  May  I  be  filled  with  the  Spirit,  Eph.  5:18, 
and  may  I  be  led  by  it,  Rom.  8  : 14  ;  and  so  may  it 
be  evident  to  others,  and  especially  to  my  own  soul, 
that  I  am  a  child  of  God,  and  an  heir  of  glory.  May 
I  not  receive  the  spirit  of  bondage  unto  fear,  but  the 
spirit  of  adoption,  whereby  I  may  be  enabled  to  cry, 
Abba,  Father.  Rom.  8  :  15.  May  he  work  in  me, 
as  the  spirit  of  love,  and  of  power,  and  of  a  sound 
mind,  2  Tim.  1:7,  that  so  I  may  add  to  my  faith 
virtue.  2  Pet.  1:5.  May  I  be  strong,  and  very 
courageous,  Josh.  1:7,  and  quit  myself  like  a  man, 
1  Cor.  16  :  13,  and  like  a  Christian,  in  the  work  to 
which  I  am  called,  and  in  that  warfare  which  I  had 
in  view  when  I  listed  under  the  banner  of  the  great 
Captain  of  my  salvation. 

"  Teach  me,  0  Lord,  seriously  to  consider  the  na- 
ture of  my  own  soul,  and  to  set  a  suitable  value  upon 
it.  May  I  labor  not  only,  or  chiefly,  for  the  meat 


214  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

that  perislieth,  but  for  that  which  endureth  to  eter- 
nal life.  John  6  :  27-  May  I  humble  myself  under 
thy  mighty  hand,  and  be  clothed  with  humility,  1 
Pet.  5:5,  6,  decked  with  the  ornament  of  a  meek 
and  quiet  spirit,  which  in  the  sight  of  God  is  of  great 
price.  1  Pet.  3:4.  May  I  be  pure  in  heart,  that  I 
may  see  God,  Matt.  5  :  8,  mortifying  my  members 
which  are  on  the  earth,  Col.  3  :  5,  so  that  if  a  right 
eye  offend  me,  I  may  pluck  it  out,  and  if  a  right 
hand  offend  me,  I  may  cut  it  off.  Matt.  5  :  29,  30. 
May  I  be  temperate  in  all  things,  1  Cor.  9  :  25,  con- 
tent with  such  things  as  I  have,  Heb.  13  :  5,  and 
instructed  to  be  so  in  whatever  state  I  am.  Phil. 
4:11.  May  patience  also  have  its  perfect  work  in 
me,  that  I  may  be  in  that  respect  complete,  and 
wanting  nothing.  James  1:4. 

"  Form  me,  0  Lord,  I  beseech  thee,  to  a  proper 
temper  towards  my  fellow-creatures.  May  I  love 
my  neighbor  as  myself,  Gal.  5  : 14,  and  whatsoever 
I  would  that  others  should  do  unto  me,  may  I  also 
do  the  same  unto  them.  Matt.  7  : 12.  May  I  put 
on  meekness  under  the  greatest  injuries  and  provo- 
cations, Col.  3  :  12  ;  and  if  it  be  possible,  as  much  as 
lieth  in  me,  may  I  live  peaceably  with  all  men.  Rom. 
12:18.  May  I  be  merciful,  as  my  Father  in  heaven 
is  merciful.  Luke  6  :  36.  May  I  speak  the  truth 
from  my  heart,  Psalm  15:2,  and  may  I  speak  it  in 
love,  Eph.  4  :  15 — guarding  against  every  instance 


THE  CHRISTIAN  TEMPER.  215 

of  a  censorious  and  malignant  disposition,  and  taking 
care  not  to  judge  severely,  as  I  would  not  be  judged 
with  the  severity  which  thou,  Lord,  knowest,  and 
which  mine  own  conscience  knows,  I  should  not  be 
able  to  support. 

"  I  entreat  thee,  0  Lord,  to  work  in  me  all  those 
qualifications  of  the  Christian  temper  which  may 
render  it  peculiarly  acceptable  to  thee,  and  may 
prove  ornamental  to  my  profession  in  the  world. 
Renew,  I  beseech  thee,  a  right  spirit  within  me,  Psa. 
51  :  10 ;  make  me  an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  there 
is  no  allowed  guile.  John  1  : 47.  And  while  I  feast 
on  Christ,  as  my  passover  sacrificed  for  me,  may  I 
keep  the  feast  with  the  unleavened  bread  of  sincerity 
and  truth.  1  Cor.  5:7,  8.  Make  me,  I  beseech 
thee,  0  thou  almighty  and  unchangeable  God,  stead- 
fast and  immovable,  always  abounding  in  thy  work, 
as  knowing  that  my  labor  in  the  Lord  shall  not  be 
finally  in  vain.  1  Cor.  15  :  58.  May  my  heart  be 
tender,  2  Kings,  22  :  19,  easily  impressed  with  thy 
word  and  providence,  touched  with  an  affectionate 
concern  for  thy  glory,  and  sensible  of  every  impulse 
of  thy  Spirit.  May  I  be  zealous  for  my  God,  Numb. 
25  :  13,  with  a  zeal  according  to  knowledge  and 
charity,  1  Cor.  16  :  14  ;  and  teach  me  in  thy  service 
to  join  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent  with  the  boldness 
of  the  lion  and  the  innocence  of  the  dove.  Matthew 
10  :  16.  Thus  render  me,  by  thy  grace,  a  shining 


216  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 

image  of  my  dear  Redeemer ;  and  at  length  bring 
me  to  wear  the  bright  resemblance  of  his  holiness 
and  his  glory,  in  that  world  where  he  dwells — that 
I  may  ascribe  everlasting  honors  to  him,  and  to  thee, 
0  thou  Father  of  mercies,  whose  invaluable  gift  he 
is,  and  to  thine  Holy  Spirit,  through  whose  gracious 
influence,  I  would  humbly  hope,  I  may  call  thee  my 
Father,  and  Jesus  my  Saviour.  Amen." 


CHRISTIAN  TEMPER  SOUGHT.  217 

CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  READER  REMINDED  HOW  MUCH  HE  NEEDS  THE  AS- 
SISTANCE OF  THE  SPIRIT  OF  GOD  TO  FORM  HIM  TO  THE 
TEMPER  DESCRIBED  ABOVE,  AND  WHAT  ENCOURAGE- 
MENT HE  HAS  TO  EXPECT  IT. 

1.  Forward  resolutions  may  prove  ineffectual. — 2.  Yet  re- 
ligion is  not  to  be  given  up  in  despair,  but  divine  grace  to  be 
Bought. — 3.  A  general  view  of  its  reality  and  necessity,  from 
reason. — 4.  And  Scripture.— 5.  The  Spirit  to  be  sought  as  the 
Spirit  of  Christ. — 6.  And  in  that  view,  the  great  strength  of  the 
soul. — 7.  The  encouragement  there  is  to  hope  for  the  commu- 
nication of  it. — 8.  A  concluding  exhortation  to  pray  for  it. 
And  an  humble  address  to  God  pursuant  to  that  exhortation. 

1 .  I  HAVE  now  laid  before  you  a  plan  of  that  temper 
and  character  which  the  gospel  requires,  and  which, 
if  you  are  a  true  Christian,  you  will  desire  and  pur- 
sue. Surely  there  is,  in  the  very  description  of  it, 
something  which  must  powerfully  strike  every  mind 
which  has  any  taste  for  what  is  truly  beautiful  and 
excellent.  And  I  question  not  but  you,  my  dear 
reader,  will  feel  some  impression  of  it  upon  your 
heart.  You  will  immediately  form  some  lively  pur- 
pose of  endeavoring  after  it ;  and  perhaps  you  may 
imagine,  you  shall  certainly  and  quickly  attain  to  it. 
You  see  how  reasonable  it  is,  and  what  desirable 
consequences  necessarily  attend  it,  and  the  aspect 
which  it  bears  on  your  present  enjoyment  and  your 


218  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 

future  happiness ;  and  therefore  are  determined  you 
will  act  accordingly.  But  give  me  leave  seriously 
to  remind  you  how  many  there  have  been — would  to 
God  that  several  such  instances  had  not  happened 
within  the  compass  of  my  own  personal  observation — 
whose  goodness  hath  been  "  like  a  morning  cloud, 
and  the  early  dew,"  which  soon  "passeth  away." 
Hos.  6:4.  There  is  not  room  indeed  absolutely  to 
apply  the  words  of  Joshua,  taken  in  the  most  rigor- 
ous sense,  when  he  said  to  Israel,  that  he  might 
humble  their  too  hasty  and  sanguine  resolutions, 
"You  cannot  serve  the  Lord,"  Josh.  24  :  19  ;  but 
I  will  venture  to  say,  you  cannot  easily  do  it.  Alas, 
you  know  not  the  difficulties  you  have  to  break 
through ;  you  know  not  the  temptations  which  Satan 
will  throw  in  your  way ;  you  know  not  how  impor- 
tunate your  vain  and  sinful  companions  will  be,  to 
draw  you  back  into  the  snare  you  may  attempt  to 
break ;  and,  above  all,  you  know  not  the  subtle  arti- 
fices which  your  own  corruptions  will  practise  upon 
you,  in  order  to  recover  their  dominion  over  you. 
You  think  the  views  you  now  have  of  things  will  be 
lasting,  because  the  principles  and  objects  to  which 
they  refer  are  so ;  but  perhaps  to-morrow  may  unde- 
ceive you,  or  rather  deceive  you  anew :  to-morrow 
may  present  some  trifle  in  a  new  dress,  which  shall 
amuse  you  into  a  forgetfulness  of  all  this.  Nay,  per- 
haps before  you  lie  down  on  your  bed,  the  impres- 


CHRISTIAN   TEMPER  SOUGHT.  219 

sions  you  now  feel  may  wear  off.  The  corrupt 
desires  of  your  own  heart,  now  perhaps  a  little 
charmed  down,  and  lying  as  if  they  were  dead,  may 
spring  up  again  with  new  violence,  as  if  they  had 
slept  only  to  recruit  their  vigor  ;  and  if  you  are  not 
supported  by  a  better  strength  than  your  own,  this 
struggle  for  liberty  will  only  make  your  future  chains 
the  heavier,  the  more  shameful,  and  the  more  fatal. 

2.  What  then  is  to  be  done  ?     Is  the  convinced 
sinner  to  lie  down  in  despair  ;  to  say,  "  I  am  a  help- 
less captive,  and  by  exerting  myself  with  violence, 
may  break  my  limbs  sooner  than  my  bonds,  and  in- 
crease the  evil  I  would  remove  ?"    God  forbid  !    You 
cannot,  I  am  persuaded,  be  so  little  acquainted  with 
Christianity,  as  not  to  know  "  that  the  doctrine  of 
divine  assistance  bears  a  very  considerable  part  in  it." 
You  have  often,  I  doubt  not,  read  of  "  the  law  of  the 
Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus,  as  making  us  free  from 
the  law  of  sin  and  death,"  Rom.  8  :  2,  and  have 
been  told,  "  that  through  the  Spirit  we  mortify  the 
deeds  of  the  body."     Rom.  8  :  13.     You  have  read 
of  "  doing  all  things  through  Christ,  who  strength- 
eneth  us,"   Phil.  4:  13,  whose  grace  "is  sufficient 
for  us,"  and  whose  "  strength  is  made  perfect  in  weak- 
ness."    2  Cor.  12  :  9.     Permit  me,  therefore,  now  to 
call  your  attention  to  this,  as  a  truth  of  the  clearest 
evidence,  and  of  the  utmost  importance. 

3.  Reason,  indeed,  as  well  as  the  whole  tenor  of 


220  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

Scripture,  agrees  with  this.^  The  whole  created 
world  has  a  necessary  dependence  on  God  :  from 
him  even  the  knowledge  of  "  natural  things"  is  de- 
rived, Psalm  94  :  10,  and  "skill  in  them  is  to  be 
ascribed  to  him."  Exod.  31  :  3—6.  Much  more  loudly 
does  so  great  and  excellent  a  work  as  the  new-form- 
ing the  human  mind,  bespeak  its  divine  Author. 
When  you  consider  how  various  the  branches  of  the 
Christian  temper  are,  and  how  contrary  many  of 
them  also  are  to  that  temper  which  hath  prevailed 
in  your  heart,  and  governed  your  life  in  time  past, 
you  must  really  see  divine  influences  as  necessary  to 
produce  and  nourish  them,  as  the  influences  of  the 
sun  and  rain  are  to  call  up  the  variety  of  plants  and 
flowers,  and  grains  and  fruits,  by  which  the  earth  is 
adorned,  and  our  life  supported.  You  will  be  yet 
more  sensible  of  this,  if  you  reflect  on  the  violent 
opposition  which  this  happy  work  must  expect  to 
meet  with  ;  of  which  I  shall  presently  warn  you  more 
largely,  and  which  if  you  have  not  already  experi- 
enced, it  must  be  because  you  have  but  very  lately 
begun  to  think  of  religion. 

4.  Accordingly,  if  you  give  yourself  leave  to  con- 
sult Scripture  on  this  head — and  if  you  would  live 
like  a  Christian,  you  must  be  consulting  it  every  day, 
and  forming  your  notions  and  actions  by  it — you  will 

*  See  many  of  these  thoughts  much  more  largely  illustrated 
in  my  eighth  Sermon  on  Regeneration, 


CHRISTIAN   TEMPER    SOUGHT.  221 

eee  that  the  whole  tenor  of  it  teaches  that  depend- 
ence upon  God  which  I  am  now  recommending. 
You  will  particularly  see,  that  the  production  of  re- 
ligion in  the  soul  is  matter  of  divine  promise ;  that 
when  it  has  been  effected,  Scripture  ascribes  it  to  a 
divine  agency ;  and  that  the  increase  of  grace  and 
piety  in  the  heart  of  those  who  are  truly  regenerate, 
is  also  spoken  of  as  the  work  of  God,  who  begins 
and  "  carries  it  on  until  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ." 
Phil.  1  :  6. 

5.  In  consequence  of  all  these  views,  lay  it  down 
to  yourself  as  a  most  certain  principle,  that  no  attempt 
in  religion  is  to  be  made  in  your  own  strength.  If 
you  forget  this,  and  God  purposes  finally  to  save  you, 
he  will  humble  you  by  repeated  disappointments,  till 
he  teach  you  better.  You  will  be  ashamed  of  one 
scheme  and  effort,  and  of  another,  till  you  settle  upon 
the  true  basis..  He  will  also  probably  show  you,  not 
only  in  the  general,  that  your  strength  is  to  be  derived 
from  heaven,  but  particularly  that  it  is  the  office  of 
the  blessed  Spirit  to  purify  the  heart,  and  to  invigo- 
rate holy  resolutions ;  and  also,  that  in  all  these 
operations  he  is  to  be  considered  as  the  Spirit  of 
Christ,  working  under  his  direction,  and  as  a  vital 
communication  from  him,  under  the  character  of  the 
great  Head  of  the  church,  the  grand  Treasurer  and 
Dispenser  of  these  holy  and  beneficial  influences.  On 
which  account,  it  is  called  "  the  supply  of  the  Spirit 


222  RISE    AND  PROGRESS. 

of  Jesus  Christ,"  Phil.  1:19,  who  is  "  exalted  at  the 
right  hand "  of  the  Father,  "  to  give  repentance  and  re- 
mission of  sins,"  Acts  5  :  31  ;  "in  whose  grace  alone 
we  can  be  strong,"  2  Tim.  2:1,  and  "  of  whose  fulness 
we  receive,  even  grace  for  grace."  John  1  :  16. 

6.  Resolve,  therefore,  strenuously  for  the  service 
of  God,  and  for  the  care  of  your  soul;  but  "  resolve 
modestly  and  humbly."     Even  "  the  youths  shall 
faint  and  be  weary,  and  the  young  men  utterly  fall ; 
but  they  who  wait  on  the  Lord"  are  the  persons  who 
"  renew  their  strength."     Isa.  40  :  30,  31.     "When  a 
soul  is  almost  afraid  to  declare,  in  the  presence  of 
the  Lord,  that  it  will  not  do  this  or  that  which  has 

\  formerly  offended  him  ;  when  it  is  afraid  absolutely 
to  promise,  that  it  will  perform  this  or  that  duty  with 
vigor  and  constancy,  but  only  expresses  its  humble 
and  earnest  desire  that  it  may  by  grace  be  enabled 
to  avoid  the  one,  or  pursue  the  other ;  then,  so  far  as 
my  observation  and  experience  have  reached,  it  is  in 
the  best  way  to  learn  the  happy  art  of  conquering 
temptation,  and  of  discharging  duty. 

7.  On  the  other  hand,  let  not  your  dependence 
upon  this  Spirit,  and  your  sense  of  your  own  weak- 
ness and  insufficiency  for  any  thing  spiritually  good, 
without  his  continual  aid,  discourage  you  from  de- 
voting yourself  to  God,  and  engaging  in  a  religious 
life,  considering  "  what  abundant  reason  you  have  to 
hope  that  these  gracious  influences  will  be  commu- 


CHRISTIAN    TEMPER    SOUGHT.  223 

nicated  to  you."  The  light  of  nature,  at  the  same 
time  that  it  teaches  the  need  we  have  of  help  from 
God  in  a  virtuous  course,  may  lead  us  to  conclude 
that  so  benevolent  a  Being,  who  bestows  on  the  most 
unworthy  and  careless  part  of  mankind  so  many 
blessings,  will  take  a  peculiar  pleasure  in  communi- 
cating, to  such  as  humbly  ask  them,  those  gracious 
assistances  which  may  form  their  deathless  souls  into 
his  own  resemblance,  and  fit  them  for  that  happiness 
to  which  their  rational  nature  is  suited,  and  for  which 
it  was  in  its  first  constitution  intended.  The  word 
of  God  will  much  more  abundantly  confirm  such  a 
hope.  You  there  hear  divine  wisdom  crying  even  to 
those  who  had  long  trifled  with  her  instructions, 
"  Turn  ye  at  my  reproof,  and  I  will  pour  out  my 
Spirit  upon  you."  Prov.  1  :  23.  You  hear  the  apos- 
tle saying,  "Let  us  come  boldly  to  the  throne  of 
grace,  that  we  may  obtain  mercy,  and  find  grace  to 
help  in  every  time  of  need."  Heb.  4  :  16.  Yea,  and 
you  there  hear  our  Lord  himself  arguing  in  this  sweet 
and  convincing  manner :  "  If  ye,  being  evil,  know 
how  to  give  good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much 
more  shall  your  heavenly  Father  give  his  Holy  Spirit 
unto  them  that  ask  him?"  Luke  11  :  13.  This 
gift  and  promise  of  the  Spirit  was  given  unto  Christ 
when  he  ascended  up  on  high,  in  trust  for  all  his 
true  disciples.  God  hath  "  shed  it  abroad  abundantly 
upon  us  in  him."  Titus  3:6.  And  I  may  add,  that 


824  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

the  very  desire  you  feel  after  the  farther  communica- 
tion of  the  Spirit,  is  the  result  of  the  first-fruits  of  it 
already  given ;  so  that  you  may,  with  peculiar  pro- 
priety, interpret  it  as  a  special  call  "  to  open  your 
mouth  wide,  that  he  may  fill  it."  Psalm  81  :  10. 
You  thirst,  and  therefore  you  may  cheerfully  plead, 
that  Jesus  has  "  invited  you  to  come  unto  him  and 
drink  ;"  with  a  promise,  not  only  that  you  shall  drink 
if  you  come  unto  him,  but  also  that  "  out  of  your 
belly  shall  flow,"  as  it  were,  "rivers  of  living  wa- 
ter," for  the  edification  and  refreshment  of  others. 
John  7  :  37,  38. 

8.  Go  forth,  therefore,  with  humble  cheerfulness, 
to  the  prosecution  of  all  the  duties  of  the  Christian 
life.  Go  and  prosper  "  in  the  strength  of  the  Lord, 
making  mention  of  his  righteousness,  and  of  his 
only."  Psalm  71  : 16.  And  as  a  token  of  farther 
communication,  may  your  heart  be  quickened  to  the 
most  earnest  desire  after  the  blessings  I  have  been 
now  recommending  to  your  pursuit.  May  you  be 
stirred  up  to  pour  out  your  soul  before  God  in  such 
holy  breathings  as  these;  and  may' they  be  your 
daily  language  in  his  gracious  presence. 

AN  HUMBLE  SUPPLICATION  FOR  THE  INFLUENCES  OF 
DIVINE  GRACE,  TO  FORM  AND  STRENGTHEN  RELIGION 
IN  THE  SOUL. 

"  Blessed  God,  I  sincerely  acknowledge  before  thee 
my  own  weakness  and  insufficiency  for  any  thing 


CHRISTIAN    TEMPER    SOUGHT.  225 

that  is  spiritually  good.  I  have  experienced  it  a 
thousand  times ;  and  yet  my  foolish  heart  would 
again  trust  itself,  Prov.  28  :  26,  and  form  resolu- 
tions in  its  own  strength.  But  let  this  be  the  first- 
fruits  of  thy  gracious  influence  upon  it,  to  bring  it 
to  an  humble  distrust  of  itself,  and  to  a  repose  on  thee. 
"  Abundantly  do  I  rejoice,  0  Lord,  in  the  kind 
assurances  which  thou  givest  me  of  thy  readiness  to 
bestow  liberally  and  richly  so  great  a  benefit.  I  do 
therefore,  according  to  thy  condescending  invitation, 
come  with  boldness  to  the  throne  of  grace,  that  I 
may  find  grace  to  help  in  every  time  of  need.  Heb. 
4:16.  I  mean  not,  0  ]>i'd  God,  to  turn  thy  grace 
into  wantonness  or  pwveiseiiQss,  Jude,  ver.  4,  or 
to  make  my  weakness  an  excuse  for  negligence  and 
sloth.  I  COP&SS  that  thou  hast  already  given  me 
more  strength  than  I  have  used ;  and  I  charge  it 
upon  myself,  and  not  on  thee,  that  I  have  not  long 
since  received  still  more  abundant  supplies.  I  desire, 
for  the  future,  to  be  found  diligent  in  the  use  of  all 
appointed  means — in  the  neglect  of  which  I  well 
know  that  petitions  like  these  would  be  a  profane 
mockery,  and  might  much  more  probably  provoke 
thee  to  take  away  what  I  have,  than  prevail  upon 
thee  to  impart  more.  But  firmly  resolving  to  exert 
myself  to  the  utmost,  I  earnestly  entreat  the  commu- 
nication of  thy  grace,  that  I  may  be  enabled  to  fulfil 
that  resolution. 

Rise  and  Frof.  15 


226  RISE    AND  PROGRESS. 

"Be  surety,  0  Lord,  unto  thy  servant  for  good, 
Psalm  119  :  122.  Be  pleased  to  shed  abroad  thy 
sanctifying  influences  on  my  soul,  to  form  me  for 
every  duty  thou  requirest.  Implant,  I  beseech  thee, 
every  grace  and  virtue  deep  in  my  heart,  and  main- 
tain the  happy  temper  in  the  midst  of  those  assaults 
from  within  and  from  without,  to  which  I  am  con- 
tinually liable  while  I  am  still  in  this  world  and 
carry  about  with  me  so  many  infirmities.  Fill  my 
breast,  I  beseech  thee,  with  good  affections  towards 
thee,  my  God,  arid  towards  my  fellow-creatures.  Re- 
mind me  always  of  thy  presence,  and  may  I  remem- 
ber that  every  secret  sentiment  of  my  soul  is  open  to 
thee.  May  I  therefore  guard  against  the  first  risings 
of  sin,  and  the  first  approaches  to  it ;  and  that  Satan 
may  not  find  room  for  his  evil  suggestions,  I  ear- 
nestly beg  that  thou,  Lord,  wouldst  fill  my  heart 
with  thine  Holy  Spirit,  and  take  up  thy  residence 
there.  Dwell  in  me,  and  walk  with  me,  2  Cor. 
6  :  16,  and  let  my  body  be  the  temple  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  1  Cor.  6  :  19. 

"  May  I  be  so  joined  to  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord,  as 
to  be  one  spirit  with  him,  1  Cor.  6  :  17,  and  feel  his 
invigorating  influences  continually  bearing  me  on, 
superior  to  every  temptation,  and  to  every  corruption ; 
that  while  the  youths  shall  faint  and  be  weary,  and 
the  young  men  utterly  fall,  I  may  so  wait  upon  the 
Lord  as  to  renew  my  strength,  Isa.  40  :  30,  31,  and 


CHRISTIAN   TEMPER  SOUGHT.  2^7 

may  go  on  from  one  degree  of  faith,  and  love,  and 
zeal,  and  holiness,  to  another,  till  I  appear  peifect 
before  thee  in  Zion,  Psalm  84  :  7,  to  drink  in  im- 
mortal vigor  and  joy  from  thee,  as  the  everlasting 
fountain  of  both,  through  Jesus  Christ  my  Lord, 
in  whom  I  have  righteousness  and  strength,  Isa. 
45  :  24,  and  to  whom  I  desire  ever  to  ascribe  the 
praise  of  all  my  improvements  in  both.  Amen." 


228  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  CONVERT  WARNED  OF,  AND  ANIMATED 
AGAINST  THOSE  DISCOURAGEMENTS  WHICH  HE  MUST 
EXPECT  TO  MEET  WHEN  ENTERING  ON  A  RELIGIOUS 
COURSE 

1 .  Christ  has  instructed  his  disciples  to  expect  opposition  and 
difficulties  in  the  way  to  heaven. — 2.  Therefore  a  more  par- 
ticular view  of  them  is  taken,  as  arising — from  the  remainder 
of  indwelling  sin. — 3.  From  the  world,  and  especially  from 
former  sinful  companions. — 4.  From  the  temptations  and  sug- 
gestions of  Satan. — 5,  6.  The  Christian  is  animated  and  en- 
couraged, by  various  considerations,  to  oppose  them  ;  particu- 
larly by  the  presence  of  God  ;  the  aids  of  Christ ;  the  example 
of  others,  who,  though  feeble,  have  conquered  ;  and  the  crown 
of  glory  to  be  expected. — 7.  Therefore,  though  apostasy  be 
infinitely  fatal,  the  Christian  may  press  on  cheerfully.  Ac- 
cordingly the  soul,  alarmed  by  these  views,  is  represented  as 
committing  itself  to  God,  in  the  prayer  which  concludes  the 
chapter. 

1.  WITH  the  utmost  propriety  has  our  divine 
Master  required  us  "to  strive  to  enter  in  at  the 
strait  gate,"  Luke  13  :  24,  thereby  intimating,  not 
only  that  the  passage  is  narrow,  but  that  it  is  beset 
with  enemies — beset,  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the 
left,  with  enemies  cunning  and  formidable.  And  be 
assured,  0  reader,  that  whatever  your  circumstances 
in  life  are,  you  must  meet  and  encounter  them.  It 


SPIRITUAL  DISCOURAGEMENTS.  229 

will  therefore  be  your  prudence  to  survey  them  at- 
tentively in  your  own  reflections,  that  you  may  see 
what  you  are  to  expect ;  and  may  consider  in  what 
,  armor  it  is  necessary  you  shall  be  clothed,  and  with 
what  weapons  you  must  be  furnished  to  manage  the 
combat.  You  have  often  heard  them  marshalled, 
as  it  were,  under  three  great  leaders,  the  flesh,  the 
world,  and  the  devil ;  and,  according  to  this  distri- 
bution, I  would  call  you  to  consider  the  forces  of 
each,  as  setting  themselves  in  array  against  you.  0 
that  you  may  be  excited  "  to  take  to  yourself  the 
whole  armor  of  God,"  Eph.  6  :  13,  and  to  "acquit 
yourself  like  a  man  "  and  a  Christian.  1  Cor.  16  :  13. 
2.  Let  your  conscience  answer,  whether  you  do 
not  carry  about  with  you  a  corrupt  and  degenerate 
nature.  You  will,  I  doubt  not,  feel  its  effects.  You 
will  feel,  in  the  language  of  the  apostle,  who  speaks 
of  it  as  the  case  of  Christians  themselves,  "  the  flesh 
lusting  against  the  spirit,  so  that  you  will  not  be 
able,"  in  all  instances,  "to  do  the  things  that  you 
would."  Gal.  5  :  17.  You  brought  irregular  pro- 
pensities into  the  world  along  with  you ;  and  you 
have  so  often  indulged  those  sinful  inclinations,  that 
you  have  greatly  increased  their  strength ;  and  you 
will  find,  in  consequence  of  it,  that  these  habits 
cannot  be  broken  through  without  great  difficulty. 
You  will,  no  doubt,  often  recollect  the  strong  figures 
in  which  the  prophet  describes  a  case  like  yours  ;  and 


230  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 

you  will  own  that  it  is  justly  represented  by  that 
"  of  an  Ethiopian  changing  his  skin,  and  the  leopard 
his  spots."  Jer.  13  :  23.  It  is  indeed  possible,  that 
at  first  you  may  find  such  an  edge  and  eagerness 
upon  your  spirits,  as  may  lead  you  to  imagine  that 
all  opposition  will  immediately  fall  before  you.  But, 
alas,  I  fear  that  in  a  little  time  these  enemies,  which 
seemed  to  be  slain  at  your  feet,  will  revive,  and  re- 
cover their  weapons,  and  renew  the  assault  in  one 
form  or  another.  And  perhaps  your  most  painful 
combats  may  be  with  such  as  you  had  thought  most 
easy  to  be  vanquished ;  and  your  greatest  danger 
may  arise  from  some  of  those  enemies  from  whom 
you  apprehended  the  least,  particularly  from  pride 
and  from  indolence  of  spirit ;  from  a  secret  aliena- 
tion of  heart  from  God,  and  from  an  indisposition  for 
conversing  with  him,  through  an  immoderate  attach- 
ment to  "things  seen  and  temporal,"  which  may  be 
oftentimes  exceedingly  dangerous  to  your  salvation, 
though  perhaps  they  be  not  absolutely  and  univer- 
sally prohibited.  In  a  thousand  of  these  instances 
you  must  learn  to  deny  yourself,  or  you  "  cannot  be 
Christ's  disciple."  Matt.  16  :  24. 

3.  You  must  also  lay  your  account  to  find  great 
difficulties  from  the  world,  from  its  manners,  cus- 
toms, and  examples.  The  things  of  the  world  wi]l 
hinder  you  one  way,  and  the  men  of  the  world 
another.  Perhaps  you  may  meet  with  much  less 


SPIRITUAL  DISCOURAGEMENTS.  23J 

assistance  in  religion  than  you  are  now  ready  to 
expect  from  good  men.  The  present  generation  of 
them  is  generally  so  cautious  to  avoid  every  thing 
that  looks  like  ostentation,  and  there  seems  some- 
thing so  insupportably  dreadful  in  the  charge  of  en- 
thusiasm, that  you  will  find  most  of  your  Christian 
brethren  studying  to  conceal  their  virtue  and  their 
piety,  much  more  than  others  study  to  conceal  their 
vices  and  their  profaneness.  But  while,  unless  your 
situation  be  singularly  happy,  you  meet  with  very 
little  aid  one  way,  you  will,  no  doubt,  find  great 
opposition  another.  The  enemies  of  religion  will  be 
bold  and  active  in  their  assaults,  while  many  of  its 
friends  seem  unconcerned ;  and  one  sinner  will  prob- 
ably exert  himself  more  to  corrupt  you,  than  ten 
Christians  to  secure  and  save  you.  They  who  have 
been  once  your  companions  in  sin,  will  try  a  thou- 
sand artful  methods  to  allure  you  back  again  to  their 
forsaken  society ;  some  of  them,  perhaps,  with  an 
appearance  of  tender  fondness,  and  many  more  by 
the  almost  irresistible  art  of  ridicule  :  that  boasted 
test  of  right  and  wrong,  as  it  has  been  wantonly 
called,  will  be  tried  upon  you,  perhaps  without  any 
regard  to  decency,  or  even  to  common  humanity. 
You  will  be  derided  and  insulted  by  those  whoso 
esteem  and  affection  you  naturally  desire  ;  and  may 
find  much  more  propriety  than  you  imagine  in  that 
expression  of  the  apostle,  "  the  trial  of  cruel  mock- 


232  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

ings,"  Heb.  11  :  36,  which  some  fear  more  than  either 
sword  or  flames.  This  persecution  of  the  tongue 
you  must  expect  to  go  through,  and  perhaps  may  be 
branded  as  a  lunatic,  for  no  other  cause  than  that 
you  now  begin  to  exercise  your  reason  to  purpose, 
and  will  not  join  with  those  that  are  destroying  their 
own  souls  in-  their  wild  career  of  folly  and  madness. 
4.  And  it  is  not  at  all  improbable,  that  in  the 
meantime  Satan  may  be  doing  his  utmost  to  dis- 
courage and  distress  you.  He  will,  no  doubt,  raise 
in  your  imagination  the  most  tempting  idea  of  the 
gratifications,  the  indulgences,  and  the  companions 
you  are  obliged  to  forsake  ;  and  give  you  the  most 
discouraging  and  terrifying  view  of  the  difficulties, 
severities,  and  dangers,  which  are,  as  he  will  per- 
suade you,  inseparable  from  religion.  He  will  not 
fail  to  represent  God  himself,  the  fountain  of  good- 
ness and  happiness,  as  a  hard  Master,  whom  it  is 
impossible  to  please.  He  will  perhaps  fill  you  with 
the  most  distressful  fears,  and,  with  cruel  and  inso- 
lent malice,  glory  over  you  as  his  slave,  when  he 
knows  you  are  the  Lord's  freeman.  At  one  time  he 
will  study,  by  his  vile  suggestions,  to  interrupt  you 
in  your  duties,  as  if  they  gave  him  an  additional 
power  over  you.  At  another  time  he  will  endeavor 
to  weary  you  of  your  devotion,  by  influencing  you 
to  prolong  it  to  an  immoderate  and  tedious  length, 
lest  his  power  should  be  exerted  upon  you  when  it 


SPIRITUAL  DISCOURAGEMENTS.  233 

ceases.  In  short,  this  practised  deceiver  has  artifices 
which-  it  would  require  whole  volumes  to  display, 
with  particular  cautions  against  each.  And  he  wi]l 
follow  you  with  malicious  arts  and  pursuits  to  the 
very  end  of  your  pilgrimage,  and  will  leave  no 
method  unattempted  which  may  be  likely  to  weaken 
your  hands  and  to  sadden  your  heart,  that  if,  through 
the  gracious  interposition  of  God,  he  cannot  prevent 
your  final  happiness,  he  may  at  least  impair  your 
peace  and  your  usefulness  as  you  are  passing  to  it. 

5.  This  is  what  the  people  of  God  feel,  and  what 
you  will  feel  in  some  degree  or  other,  if  you  have 
your  lot  arid  portion  among  them.  But,  after  all, 
be  not  discouraged  :  Christ  is  the  "  Captain  of  youi 
salvation."  Heb.  2:10.  It  is  delightful  to  consider 
him  under  this  view.  When  we  take  a  survey  of 
these  hosts  of  enemies,  we  may  lift  up  our  head 
amidst  them  all,  and  say,  "  More  and  greater  is  he 
that  is  with  us,  than  all  those  that  are  against  us." 
2  Kings,  6:16.  "  Trust  in  the  Lord,  and  you  will 
be  like  Mount  Zion,  which  cannot  be  removed,  but 
abideth  for  ever."  Psalm  125  :  1.  When  your  ene- 
mies press  upon  you,  remember  you  are  to  "  fight  in 
the  presence  of  God."  Zech.  10  :  5.  Endeavor, 
therefore,  to  act  a  gallant  and  a  resolute  part ;  en- 
deavor to  "  resist  them  steadfast  in  the  faith."  1 
Pet.  5:9.  Remember,  "  He  can  give  power  to  the 
faint,  and  increase  strength  to  them  that  have  no 


234  RISE   AND    PROGRESS. 

might."  Isaiah  40  :  29.  He  hath  done  it  in  ten 
thousand  instances  already,  and  he  will  do  it  in  ten 
thousand  more.  How  many  striplings  have  con- 
quered their  gigantic  foes  in  all  their  most  formida- 
ble armor,  when  they  have  gone  forth  against  them, 
though  hut  as  it  were  "  with  a  staff  and  a  sling,  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord  God  of  Israel."  1  Sam.  17-;  40- 
45.  How  many  women  and  children  have  trodden 
down  the  force  of  the  enemy,  "  and  out  of  weakness 
have  been  made  strong."  Heb.  11  :  34. 

6.  Amidst  all  the  opposition  of  earth  and  hell,  look 
upward  and  look  forward,  and  you  will  feel  your 
heart  animated  by  the  view.  Your  General  is  near  ; 
he  is  near  to  aid  you,  he  is  near  to  reward  you.  "When 
you  feel  the  temptation  press  the  hardest,  think  of 
him  who  endured  even  the  cross  itself  for  your  res- 
cue. View  the  fortitude  of  your  divine  Leader,  and 
endeavor  to  march  on  in  his  steps.  Hearken  to  his 
voice,  for  he  proclaims  it  aloud,  "  Behold,  I  come 
quickly  ;  and  my  reward  is  with  me."  Rev.  22:  12. 
"Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a 
crown  of  life."  Rev.  2:10.  And  0,  how  bright  will 
it  shine,  and  how  long  will  its  lustre  last !  When 
the  gems  that  adorn  the  crowns  of  monarchs,  and 
pass — instructive  thought ! — from  one  royal  head  to 
another  through  succeeding  centuries,  are  melted 
down  in  the  last  flame,  it  is  "  a  crown  of  glory 
which  fadeth  not  away."  1  Pet.  5  :  4. 


SPIRITUAL    ADVERSARIES.  235 

7,  It  is  indeed  true,  that  "such  as  turn  aside  to 
crooked  paths"  will  be  "led  forth,  with  the  workers 
of  iniquity,"  to  that  terrible  execution  which  divine 
justice  is  preparing  for  them,  Psalm  125  :  5  ;  and  it 
would  have  been  "  better  for  them  not  to  have  known 
the  way  of  righteousness,  than,  after  having  known 
it,  to  turn  aside  from  the  holy  commandment."  2 
Peter,  2  :  21.  But  I  would,  by  divine  grace,  "  hope 
better  things  of  you."  Heb.  6:9.  And  I  make  it 
my  hearty  prayer  for  you,  my  reader,  that  you  may 
be  "  kept  by  the  mighty  power  of  God,"  kept,  as  in  a 
garrison  on  all  sides  fortified  in  the  securest  manner, 
"through  faith,  unto  salvation." 

THE  SOUL,  ALARMED  BY  A  SENSE  OF  THESE  DIFFICUL- 
TIES, COMMITTING  ITSELF  TO  DIVINE  PROTECTION. 

"  Blessed  God,  it  is  to  thine  almighty  power  that 
I  flee.  Behold  me  surrounded  with  difficulties  and 
dangers,  and  stretch  out  thine  omnipotent  arm  to 
save  me,  '  0  thou  that  savest  by  thy  right  hand  them 
that  put  their  trust  in  thee,  from  those  that  rise  up 
against  them.'  Psalm  17  :  7.  This  day  do  I  sol- 
emnly put  myself  under  thy  protection :  exert  thy 
power  in  my  favor,  and  permit  me  '  to  make  the 
shadow  of  thy  wings  my  refuge/  Psalm  57  :  1.  Let 
'  thy  grace  be  sufficient  for  me,'  and  '  thy  strength  be 
made  perfect  in  my  weakness.'  2  Cor.  12  :  9.  I 
dare  not  say,  '  I  will  never  forsake  thee,  I  will  never 


236  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

deny  thee,'  Mark  14  :  31  :  but  I  hope  I  can  truly 
say,  0  Lord,  I  would  not  do  it ;  and  according  to  my 
present  apprehension  and  purpose,  death  would  ap- 
pear to  me  much  less  terrible,  than  in  any  wilful  and 
deliberate  instance  to  offend  thee.  0  root  out  those 
corruptions  from  my  heart,  which  in  an  hour  of  press- 
ing temptation  might  incline  me  to  view  things  in  a 
different  light,  and  so  might  betray  me  into  the  hands 
of  the  enemy.  Strengthen  my  faith,  0  Lord,  and 
encourage  my  hope.  Inspire  me  with  heroic  resolu- 
tion in  opposing  every  thing  that  lies  in  my  way  to 
heaven  ;  and  let  me  '  set  my  face  like  a  flint '  against 
all  the  assaults  of  earth  and  hell.  Isa.  50  :  7.  '  If 
sinners  entice  me,  let  me  not  consent,'  Prov.  1  :  10  ; 
if  they  insult  me,  let  me  not  regard  it ;  if  they  threaten 
me,  let  me  not  fear.  Rather  may  a  holy  and  ardent, 
yet  prudent  and  well-governed  zeal  take  occasion, 
from  that  malignity  of  heart  which  they  discover,  to 
attempt  their  conviction  and  reformation.  At  least, 
let  me  never  be  ashamed  to  plead  thy  cause  against 
the  most  profane  deriders  of  religion.  '  Make  me  to 
hear  joy  and  gladness'  in  my  soul,  and  I  will  en- 
deavor to  '  teach  transgressors  thy  ways,  that  sinners 
maybe  con  verted  unto  thee.'  Psalm  51  :  8, 13.  Yea, 
Lord,  while  my  fears  continue,  though  I  should  ap- 
prehend myself  condemned,  I  am  condemned  so  right- 
eously  for  my  own  folly,  that  I  would  be  thine  ad- 
vocate, though  against  myself. 


SPIRITUAL  ADVERSARIES.  237 

"  Keep  me,  0  Lord,  now  and  at  all  times.  Never 
let  me  think,  whatever  age  or  station  I  attain,  that 
1  am  strong  enough  to  maintain  the  combat  without 
thee.  Nor  let  me  imagine  myself,  even  in  this  in- 
fancy of  religion  in  my  soul,  so  weak  that  thou  canst 
not  support  me.  "Wherever  thou  leadest  me,  there 
let  me  follow  ;  and  whatever  station  thou  appointest 
me,  there  let  me  labor — there  let  me  maintain  the 
holy  war  against  all  the  enemies  of  my  salvation,  and 
rather  fall  in  it  than  basely  abandon  it. 

"  And  thou,  0  glorious  Redeemer, '  the  Captain  of 
my  salvation,'  the  great '  Author  and  Finisher  of  my 
faith,'  Heb.  12:2,  when  I  am  in  danger  of  denying 
thee,  as  Peter  did,  look  upon  me  with  that  mixture 
of  majesty  and  tenderness,  Luke  22  :  61,  which  may 
either  secure  me  from  falling,  or  may  speedily  recover 
me  to  God  and  my  duty  again,  and  teach  me  to  take 
occasion,  even  from  my  miscarriages,  to  humble  my- 
self more  deeply  for  all  that  has  been  amiss,  and  to 
redouble  my  future  diligence  and  caution.  Amen." 


238  RISE    AJSD   PROGRESS. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  URGED  TO  AND  ASSISTED  IN  AN  EXPRESS 
ACT  OF  SELF-DEDICATION  TO  THE  SERVICE  OF  GOD. 

1.  The  advantages  of  such  a  surrender  are  briefly  sug- 
gested.— 2,  3,  4.  Advice  for  the  manner  of  doing  it ;  that  it 
be  deliberate,  cheerful,  entire,  perpetual. — 5.  And  that  it  be 
expressed  with  some  affecting  solemnity. — 6.  A  written  instru- 
ment to  be  signed  and  declared  before  God,  at  some  season  of 
extraordinary  devotion,  proposed.  The  chapter  concludes  with 
a  specimen  of  such  an  instrument,  together  with  an  abstract  ot 
it,  to  be  used  with  proper  and  requisite  alterations. 

1.  As  I  would  hope,  that  notwithstanding  all  the 
forms  of  opposition  which  do  or  may  arise,  yet  in 
consideration  of  those  noble  supports  and  motives 
which  have  been  mentioned  in  the  two  preceding 
chapters,  you  are  heartily  determined  for  the  service 
of  God,  I  would  now  urge  you  to  make  a  solemn  sur- 
render of  yourself  unto  it.  Do  not.  only  form  such  a 
purpose  in  your  heart,  but  expressly  declare  it  in  the 
divine  presence.  Such  solemnity  in  the  manner  of 
doing  it,  is  certainly  very  reasonable  in  the  nature  of 
things  ;  and  surely  it  is  highly  expedient  for  binding 
to  the  Lord  such  a  treacherous  heart  as  we  know  our 
own  to  be.  It  will  be  pleasant  to  reflect  upon  it,  as 
done  at  such  and  such  a  time,  with  such  and  such 
circumstances  of  place  and  method,  which  may  serve 


SELF-DEDICATION   URGED.  239 

to  strike  the  memory  and  the  conscience.  The  sense 
of  the  vows  of  God  which  are  upon  you,  will  strengthen 
you  in  an  hour  of  temptation ;  and  the  recollection 
may  also  encourage  your  humble  boldness  and  free- 
dom in  applying  to  him,  under  the  character  and 
relation  of  your  covenant  God  and  Father,  as  future 
exigencies  may  require. 

2.  Do  it,  therefore ;  but  do  it  deliberately.  Con- 
sider what  it  is  that  you  are  to  do,  and  consider  how 
reasonable  it.  is  that  it  should  be  done,  and  done  cor- 
dially and  cheerfully — "  not  by  constraint,  but  will- 
ingly," 1  Peter,  5:2;  for  in  this  sense,  and  in  every 
other,  "  God  loves  a  cheerful  giver."  2  Cor.  9  :  7. 
Now,  surely  there  is  nothing  we  should  do  with  greater 
cheerfulness  or  more  cordial  consent,  than  making 
such  a  surrender  of  ourselves  to  the  Lord,  to  the  God 
who  created  us,  who  brought  us  into  this  pleasant 
and  well-furnished  world,  who  supported  us  in  our 
tender  infancy,  who  guarded  us  in  the  thoughtless 
days  of  childhood  and  youth,  who  has  hitherto  con- 
tinually helped,  sustained,  and  preserved  us.  Noth- 
ing can  be  more  reasonable  than  that  we  should 
acknowledge  him  as  our  rightful  owner,  and  our 
Sovereign  Ruler — than  that  we  should  devote  our- 
selves to  him  as  our  most  gracious  Benefactor,  and 
seek  him  as  our  supreme  felicity.  Nothing  can  be 
more  apparently  equitable  than  that  we,  the  product 
of  his  power,  and  the  price  of  his  Son's  blood,  should 


£40  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

be  his,  and  his  for  ever.  If  you  see  the  matter  in  it3 
just  view,  it  will  be  the  grief  of  your  soul  that  you 
have  ever  alienated  yourself  from  the  blessed  God 
and  his  service  :  so  far  will  you  be  from  wishing  to 
continue  in  that  state  of  alienation  another  year,  or 
another  day,  you  will  rejoice  to  bring  back  to  him 
his  revolted  creature  ;  and  as  you  have  in  times  past 
"  yielded  your  members  as  instruments  of  unright- 
eousness unto  sin,"  you  will  delight  to  "  yield  your- 
selves unto  God  as  alive  from  the  dead,"  and  to  em- 
ploy "your  members  as  instruments  of  righteousness 
unto  God."  Rom.  6  :  13. 

3.  The  surrender  will  also  be  as  entire  as  it  is 
cheerful  and  immediate.  All  you  are,  and  all  you 
have,  and  all  you  can  do,  your  time,  your  posses- 
sions, your  influence  over  others,  will  be  devoted  to 
him,  that  for  the  future  it  may  be  employed  entirely 
for  him,  and  to  his  glory.  You  will  desire  to  keep 
back  no  thing  from  him  ;  but  will  seriously  judge  that 
you  are  then  in  the  truest  and  noblest  sense  your 
own,  when  you  are  most  entirely  his.  You  are  also, 
on  this  great  occasion,  to  resign  all  that  you  have  to 
the  disposal  of  his  wise  and  gracious  providence  ;  not 
only  owning  his  power,  but  consenting  to  his  un- 
doubted right  to  do  what  he  pleases  with  you,  and 
all  that  he  has  given  you ;  and  declaring  a  hearty 
approbation  of  all  that  he  has  done,  and  of  all  that 
he  may  farther  do. 


SELF-DEDICATION   URGED.  241 

4.  Once  more,  let  me  remind  you  that  this  sur- 
render must  be  perpetual.     You  must  give  yourself 
up  to  God  in  such  a  manner  as  never  more  to  pre- 
tend to  be  your  own ;  for  the  rights  of  God  are,  like 
his  nature,  eternal  and  immutable,  and  with  regard 
to  his  rational  creatures,  are  the  same  yesterday,  to- 
day, and  for  ever. 

5.  I  would  farther  advise  and  urge  that  this  dedi- 
cation may  be  made  with  all  possible  solemnity.    Do 
it  in  express  words.    And  perhaps  it  may  be  in  many 
cases  most  expedient,  as  many  pious  divines  have 
recommended,  to  do  it  in  writing.     Set  your  hand 
and  seal  to  it,  "  that  on  such  a  day  of  such  a  month 
and  year,  and  at  such  a  place,  on  full  consideration 
and  serious  reflection,  you  came  to  this  happy  reso- 
lution, that  whatsoever  others  might  do,  you  would 
serve  the  Lord."     Joshua  24  :  15. 

6.  Such  an  instrument  you  may,  if  you  please, 
draw  up  for  yourself;    or,  if  you  rather  choose  to 
have  it  drawn  up  to  your  hand,  you  may  find  some- 
thing of  this  nature  below,  in  which  you  may  easily 
make  such  alterations  as  shall  suit  your  circum- 
stances, where  there  is  any  thing  peculiar  in  them. 
But  whatever  you  use,  weigh  it  well,  meditate  atten- 
tively upon  it,  that  you  may  "  not  be  rash  with  your 
rnouth  to  utter  any  thing  before  God."     Eccl.  5  :  2. 
And  when  you  determine  to  execute  this  instrument, 
let  the  transaction  be  attended  with  some  more  than 

Rise  and  frog.  1 6 


243  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

ordinary  religious  retirement.  Make  it,  if  you  con- 
veniently can,  a  day  of  secret  fasting  and  prayer ; 
and  when  your  heart  is  prepared  with  a  becoming 
awe  of  the  Divine  Majesty,  with  an  humble  confi- 
dence in  his  goodness,  and  an  earnest  desire  of  his 
favor,  then  present  yourself  on  your  knees  before 
God,  and  read  it  over  deliberately  and  solemnly; 
and  when  you  have  signed  it,  lay  it  by  in  some  se- 
cure place,  where  you  may  review  it  whenever  you 
please  ;  and  make  it  a  rule  with  yourself  to  review 
it,  if  possible,  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  that 
you  may  keep  up  the  remembrance  of  it.  And  God 
grant  that  you  may  be  enabled  to  keep  it,  and  in  the 
whole  of  your  conversation  to  walk  according  to  it. 
May  it  be  an  anchor  to  your  soul  in  every  tempta- 
tion, and  a  cordial  to  it  in  every  affliction.  May  the 
recollection  of  it  embolden  your  addresses  to  the 
throne  of  grace  now,  and  give  additional  strength  to 
your  departing  spirit,  in  a  consciousness  that  it  is 
ascending  to  your  covenant  God  and  Father,  and  to 
that  gracious  Redeemer"  whose  power  and  faithful- 
ness will  securely  "  keep  what  you  commit  to  him 
unto  that  day."  2  Tim.  1  : 12. 

AN  EXAMPLE  OF  SELF-DEDICATION. 

"  Eternal  and  unchangeable  Jehovah,  thou  great 
Creator  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  adorable  Lord  of 
angels  and  men,  I  desire,  with  the  deepest  humilia- 


FORM    OF    SELF-DEDICATION.  243 

tion  and  abasement  of  soul,  to  fall  down  at  this  time 
in  thine  awful  presence,  and  earnestly  pray  that  thou 
wilt  penetrate  my  heart  with  a  suitable  sense  of  thine 
unutterable  and  inconceivable  glories. 

"  Trembling  may  justly  take  hold  upon  me,  Job 
21  :  6,  when  I,  a  sinful  worm,  presume  to  lift  up  my 
head  to  thee,  presume  to  appear  in  thy  majestic  pres- 
ence on  such  an  occasion  as  this.  Who  am  I,  0 
Lord  God,  or  what  is  my  house  ?  What  is  my  nature 
or  descent,  my  character  and  desert,  that  I  should 
thus  address  the  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords  ? 
I  blush  and  am  confounded  before  thee.  But,  0 
Lord,  great  as  is  thy  majesty,  so  also  is  thy  mercy. 
If  thou  wilt  hold  converse  with  any  of  thy  creatures, 
thy  superlatively  exalted  nature  must  stoop,  must 
stoop  infinitely  low.  And  I  know,  that  in  and  through 
Jesus,  the  Son  of  thy  love,  thou  condescendest  to 
visit  sinful  mortals,  and  to  allow  their  approach  to 
thee,  and  their  covenant  intercourse  with  thee ;  nay, 
I  know  that  the  scheme  and  plan  is  thine  own,  and 
that  thou  hast  graciously  sent  to  propose  it  to  us ; 
as  none  untaught  by  thee  would  have  been  able  to 
form  it,  or  inclined  to.  embrace  it,  even  when  actually 
proposed. 

"  To  thee,  therefore,  do  I  now  come,  invited  by  the 
name  of  thy  Son,  and  trusting  in  his  righteousness 
and  grace.  Laying  myself  at  thy  feet,  '  with  shame 
and  confusion  efface,'  and  'smiting  upon  my  breast,' 


744  RISE    AND   PROGRESS. 

I  say,  with  the  humble  publican,  '  God  be  merciful 
to  me  a  sinner.'  Luke  18  :  13.  I  acknowledge,  0 
Lord,  that  I  have  been  a  great  transgressor.  *  My 
sins  have  reached  unto  heaven,'  Rev.  18  :  5,  and  'my 
iniquities  are  lifted  up  unto  the  skies.'  Jer.  51  :  9. 
The  irregular  propensities  of  my  corrupted  and  de- 
generated nature  have,  in  ten  thousand  aggravated 
instances,  *  wrought  to  bring  forth  fruit  unto  death.' 
Rom.  7:5.  And  if  thou  shouldst  be  strict  to  mark 
my  offences,  I  must  be  silent  under  a  load  of  guilt, 
and  immediately  sink  into  destruction.  But  thou 
hast  graciously  called  rne  to  return  unto  thee,  though 
I  have  been  a  wandering  sheep,  a  prodigal  son,  a 
backsliding  child.  Jer.  3  :  22.  Behold,  therefore,  0 
Lord,  I  come  unto  thee.  I  come,  convinced  not  only 
of  my  sin,  but  of  my  folly.  I  come,  from  my  very 
heart  ashamed  of  myself,  and  with  an  acknowledg- 
ment, in  the  sincerity  and  humility  of  my  soul,  that 
'I  have  played  the  fool,  and  have  erred  exceedingly.' 
1  Sam.  26  :  21.  I  am  confounded  myself  at  the  re- 
membrance of  these  things  ;  but  be  thou  *  merciful  to 
my  unrighteousness,  and  do  not  remember  against 
me  my  sins  and  my  transgressions.'  Heb.  8  :  12. 
Permit  me,  0  Lord,  to  bring  back  unto  thee  those 
powers  and  faculties  which  I  have  ungratefully 
and  sacrilegiously  alienated  from  thy  service  ;  and 
receive,  I  beseech  thee,  thy  poor  revolted  creature, 
who  is  now  convinced  of  thy  right  to  him,  and 


FORM  OF  SELF-DEDICATION.  245 

desires  nothing  in  the  whole  world  so  much  as  to  be 
thine. 

"  Blessed  God,  it  is  with  the  utmost  solemnity  that 
t  make  this  surrender  of  myself  unto  thee.     *  Hear, 

0  heavens,  and  give   ear,  0   earth  ;  I  avouch  the 
Lord  this  day  to  be  my  God,'  Deut.  26  :  17,  and  I 
avouch  and  declare  myself  this  day  to  be  one  of  his 
covenant  children  and  people.     Hear,  0  thou  God 
of  heaven,  and  record  it  in  '  the  book  of  thy  remem- 
brance,' Mai.  3  :  16,  that  henceforth  I  am  thine — 
entirely  thine.     I  would  not  merely  consecrate  unto 
thee  some  of  my  powers,  or  some  of  my  possessions, 
or  give  thee  a  certain  proportion  of  my  services,  or 
all  I  am  capable  of  for  a  limited  time  ;  but  I  would 
be  wholly  thine,  and  thine  for  ever.     From  this  day 

1  would  solemnly  renounce   all  the   *  former  lords 
which  have  had  dominion  over  me,'  Isa.  26  :  13, 
every  sin  and  every  lust ;  and  bid,  in  thy  name,  an 
eternal  defiance  to  the  powers  of  hell,  which  have 
most  unjustly  usurped  the  empire  over  my  soul,  and 
to  all  the  corruptions  which  their  fatal  temptations 
have  introduced  into  it.     The  whole  frame  of  my 
nature,  all  the  faculties  of  my  mind,  and  all  the 
members  of  my  body,  would  I  present  before  thee 
this  day,  '  as  a  living  sacrifice,  holy  and  acceptable 
unto  God,  which '  I  know  to  be  '  my  most  reasonable 
service.'    Rom.  12  :  1.    To  thee  I  consecrate  all  my 
worldly  possessions  ;  in  thy  service  I  desire  to  spend 


246  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

all  the  remainder  of  my  time  upon  earth,  and  beg 
thou  wouldst  instruct  and  influence  me,  so  that, 
whether  my  abode  here  be  longer  or  shorter,  every 
year  and  month,  every  day  and  hour,  may  be  used 
in  such  a  manner  as  shall  most  effectually  promote 
thine  honor,  and  subserve  the  designs  of  thy  wise 
and  gracious  providence.  And  I  earnestly  pray,  that 
whatever  influence  thou  givest  me  over  others,  in 
any  of  the  superior  relations  of  life  in  which  I  may 
stand,  or  in  consequence  of  any  peculiar  regard  which 
may  be  paid  to  me,  thou  wouldst  give  me  the  strength 
and  courage  to  exert  myself  to  the  utmost  for  thy 
glory  ;  resolving  not  only  that  I  will  myself  do  it, 
but  that  all  others,  so  far  as  I  can  rationally  and 
properly  influence  them,  '  shall  serve  the  Lord/ 
Josh.  24  :  15.  In  this  course,  0  blessed  God,  would 
I  steadily  persevere  to  the  very  end  of  life  ;  earnestly 
praying,  that  every  future  day  of  it  may  supply  the 
deficiencies  and  correct  the  irregularities  of  the  for- 
mer ;  and  that  I  may,  by  divine  grace,  be  enabled 
not  only  to  hold  on  in  that  happy  way,  but  daily  to 
grow  more  active  in  it. 

"  Nor  do  I  only  consecrate  all  that  I  am  and  have 
to  thy  service,  but  I  also  most  humbly  resign,  and 
submit  to  thy  holy  and  sovereign  will,  myself,  and 
all  that  I  can  call  mine.  I  leave,  0  Lord,  to  thy 
management  and  direction,  all  I  possess,  and  all  I 
wish ;  and  set  every  enjoyment  and  every  interest 


FORM  Of  SELF-DEDICATION.  247 

before  thee,  to  be  disposed  of  as  thou  pleasest.  Con- 
tinue or  remove  what  thou  hast  given  me — bestow 
or  refuse  what  I  imagine  I  want,  as  thou,  Lord,  shalt 
gee  good.  And  though  I  dare  not  say  I  will  never 
repine,  yet  I  hope  I  may  venture  to  say,  that  I  will 
labor  not  only  to  submit,  but  to  acquiesce  ;  not  only 
to  bear  what  thou  doest  in  thy  most  afflictive  dispen- 
sations, but  to  consent  to  it,  and  to  praise  thee  for  it— 
contentedly  resolving,  in  all  thou  appointest  for  me, 
my  will  into  thine,  and  looking  on  myself  as  nothing, 
and  on  thee,  0  God,  as  the  great  eternal  ALL,  whose 
wrord  ought  to  determine  every  thing,  and  whose 
government  ought  to  be  the  joy  of  the  whole  rational 
creation. 

"  Use  me,  0  Lord,  I  beseech  thee,  as  the  instru- 
ment of  thy  glory  ;  and  honor  me  so  far,  as  either  by 
doing  or  suffering  what  thou  shalt  appoint,  to  bring 
some  revenue  of  praise  to  thee,  and  of  benefit  to  the 
world  in  which  I  dwell.  And  may  it  please  thee, 
from  this  day  forward,  to  number  me  among  thy  pe- 
culiar people,  that  I  may  '  no  more  be  a  stranger  and 
foreigner,  but  a  fellow-citizen  with  the  saints,  and 
of  the  household  of  God.'  Eph.  2  :  19.  Receive,  0 
heavenly  Father,  thy  returning  prodigal.  Wash  me 
in  the  blood  of  thy  dear  Son ;  clothe  me  with  his 
perfect  righteousness ;  and  sanctify  me  throughout 
by  the  power  of  thy  Spirit.  Destroy,  I  beseech  thee, 
more  and  more  the  power  of  sin  in  my  heart.  Trans- 


248  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

form  me  more  into  thine  own  image,  and  fashion  me 
to  the  resemblance  of  Jesus,  whom  henceforward  I 
would  acknowledge  as  my  teacher  and  sacrifice,  my 
intercessor  and  my  Lord.  Communicate  to  me,  I 
beseech  thee,  all  needful  influences  of  thy  purifying, 
thy  cheering,  and  thy  comforting  Spirit.  And  lift 
up  that  '  light  of  thy  countenance  upon  me,'  which 
will  put  the  sublimest  joy  and  '  gladness  into  my 
soul.'  Psa.  4  :  6,  7. 

"  Dispose  my  affairs,  0  God,  in  a  manner  which 
may  be  most  subservient  to  thy  glory  and  my  own 
truest  happiness  ;  and  when  I  have  done  and  borne 
thy  will  upon  earth,  call  me  from  hence  at  what 
time  and  in  what  manner  thou  pleasest ;  only  grant, 
that  in  my  dying  moments,  and  in  the  near  prospect 
of  eternity,  I  may  remember  these  my  engagements 
to  thee,  and  may  employ  my  latest  breath  in  thy 
service.  And  do  thou,  Lord,  when  thou  seest  the 
agonies  of  dissolving  nature  upon  me,  remember  this 
covenant  too,  even  though  I  should  then  be  incapa- 
ble of  recollecting  it.  Look  down,  0  my  heavenly 
Father,  with  a  pitying  eye,  upon  thy  languishing, 
thy  dying  child  ;  place  thine  everlasting  arms  under- 
neath me  for  my  support ;  put  strength  and  confi- 
dence into  my  departing  spirit,  and  receive  it  to  the 
embraces  of  thine  everlasting  love.  Welcome  it  to 
the  abodes  of  them  that  sleep  in  Jesus,  1  Thess.  4 : 14; 
to  wait  with  them  that  glorious  day,  when  the  last 


FORM  OF  SELF-DEDICATION.  249 

of  thy  promises  to  thy  covenant  people  shall  be  ful- 
filled in  their  triumphant  resurrection,  and  in  that 
abundant  entrance  which  shall  be  administered  to 
them  into  that  everlasting  kingdom,  2  Pet.  1  : 11,  of 
which  thou  hast  assured  them  by  THY  COVENANT, 
and  in  the  hope  of  which  I  now  lay  hold  of  it,  de- 
siring to  live  and  to  die,  as  with  mine  hand  on  that 
hope. 

"  And  when  I  am  thus  numbered  among  the  dead, 
and  all  the  interests  of  mortality  are  over  with  me 
for  ever,  if  this  solemn  memorial  should  chance  to 
fall  into  the  hands  of  my  surviving  friends,  may  it 
be  the  means  of  making  serious  impressions  on  their 
minds.  May  they  read  it,  not  only  as  my  language, 
but  as  their  own ;  and  learn  to  fear  the  Lord  my 
God,  and  with  me,  to  put  their  trust  under  the 
shadow  of  his  wing  for  time  and  for  eternity.  And 
may  they  also  learn  to  adore  with  me  that  grace 
which  inclines  our  hearts  to  enter  into  the  covenant, 
and  condescends  to  admit  us  into  it  when  so  inclined  ; 
ascribing,  with  me,  and  with  all  the  nations  of  the 
redeemed,  to  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  that  glory,  honor,  and  praise,  which  is  so 
justly  due  to  each  divine  Person  for  the  part  he  bears 
in  this  illustrious  work.  Amen." 

N.  B.  For  the  sake  of  those  who  may  think  the  preceding 
Form  of  Self-dedication  too  long  to  be  transcribed,  as  it  is 
possible  many  will,  I  have,  at  the  desire  of  a  much-esteemed 


250  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

friend,  added  the  following  abridgment  of  it,  which  should,  by 
all  means,  be  attentively  weighed  in  every  clause  before  it  ia 
executed  ;  and  any  word  or  phrase  which  may  seem  liable  to 
exception  changed,  that  the  whole  heart  may  consent  to  it  all. 

"  Eternal  and  ever-blessed  God,  I  desire  to  present 
myself  before  thee,  with  the  deepest  humiliation  and 
abasement  of  soul,  sensible  how  unworthy  such  a 
sinful  worm  is  to  appear  before  the  holy  Majesty  of 
heaven,  the  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  and  es- 
pecially on  such  an  occasion  as  this,  ever  to  dedicate 
myself,  without  reserve,  to  thee.  But  the  scheme 
and  plan  is  thine  own.  Thine  infinite  condescension 
hath  offered  it  by  thy  Son,  and  thy  grace  hath  in- 
clined my  heart  to  accept  of  it. 

"I  come,  therefore,  acknowledging  myself  to  have 
been  a  great  offender ;  smiting  upon  my  breast,  and 
saying  with  the  humble  publican,  '  God  be  merciful 
to  me  a  sinner.'  I  come,  invited  by  the  name  of  thy 
Son,  and  wholly  trusting  in  his  perfect  righteousness ; 
entreating  that  for  his  sake  thou  wilt  be  merciful  to 
my  unrighteousness,  and  wilt  no  more  remember  my 
sins.  Receive,  I  beseech  thee,  thy  revolted  creature, 
who  is  now  convinced  of  thy  right  to  him,  and  de- 
sires nothing  so  much  as  that  he  may  be  thine. 

"  This  day  do  I,  with  the  utmost  solemnity,  sur- 
render myself  to  thee.  I  renounce  all  former  lords 
that  have  had  dominion  over  me ;  and  I  consecrate 
to  thee  all  that  I  am,  and  all  that  I  have ;  the  fac- 


FORM   OF  SELF-DEDICATION.  251 

ulties  of  my  mind,  the  members  of  my  body,  my 
worldly  possessions,  my  time,  and  my  influence  over 
others;  to  be  all  used  entirely  for  thy  glory,  and 
resolutely  employed  -in  obedience  to  thy  commands, 
as  long  as  thou  continuest  me  in  life ;  with  an  ar- 
dent desire  and  humble  resolution  to  continue  thine 
through  all  the  endless  ages  of  eternity ;  ever  hold- 
ing myself  in  an  attentive  posture  to  observe  the 
first  intimations  of  thy  will,  and  ready  to  spring 
forward  with  zeal  and  joy  to  the  immediate  execu- 
tion of  it. 

"To  thy  direction  also  I  resign  myself,  and  all  1 
am  and  have,  to  be  disposed  of  by  thee  in  such  a 
manner  as  thou  shalt  in  thine  infinite  wisdom  judge 
most  subservient  to  the  purposes  of  thy  glory.  To 
thee  I  leave  the  management  of  all  events,  and  say 
without  reserve,  'Not  my  will,  but  thine  be  done,' 
rejoicing  with  a  loyal  heart  in  thine  unlimited  gov- 
ernment, as  what  ought  to  be  the  delight  of  the  whole 
rational  creation. 

"Use  me,  0  Lord,  I  beseech  thee,  as  an  instrument 
of  thy  service ;  number  me  among  thy  peculiar  peo- 
ple. Let  me  be  washed  in  the  blood  of  thy  dear  Son. 
Let  me  be  clothed  with  his  righteousness.  Let  me 
be  sanctified  by  his  Spirit.  Transform  me  more  and 
more  into  his  image.  Impart  to  me,  through  him, 
all  needful  influences  of  thy  purifying,  cheering,  and 
comforting  Spirit.  And  let  my  life  be  spent  under 


252  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

those  influences,  and  in  the  light  of  thy  gracious 
countenance,  as  my  Father  and  my  God. 

"And  when  the  solemn  hour  of  death  comes,  may 
I  remember  thy  COVENANT,  '  well-ordered  in  all  things 
and  sure,  as  all  my  salvation  and  all  my  desire,'  2 
Sam.  23  :  5,  though  every  hope  and  enjoyment  is 
perishing;  and  do  thou,  0  Lord,  remember  it  too. 
Look  down  with  pity,  0  my  heavenly  Father,  on  thy 
languishing,  dying  child.  Embrace  me  in  thine  ev- 
erlasting arms.  Put  strength  and  confidence  into 
my  departing  spirit,  and  receive  it  to  the  abodes  of 
them  that  sleep  in  Jesus,  peacefully  and  joyfully  to 
wait  the  accomplishment  of  thy  great  promise  to  all 
thy  people,  even  that  of  a  glorious  resurrection,  and 
of  eternal  happiness  in  thine  heavenly  presence. 

"And  if  any  surviving  friend  should,  when  I  am 
in  the  dust,  meet  with  this  memorial  of  my  solemn 
transactions  with  thee,  may  he  make  the  engagement 
his  own ;  and  do  thou  graciously  admit  him  to  par- 
take in  all  the  blessings  of  THY  COVENANT,  through 
Jesus  the  great  Mediator  of  it ;  to  whom,  with  thee, 
0  Father,  and  thy  Holy  Spirit,  be  everlasting  praises 
ascribed,  by  all  the  millions  who  are  thus  saved  by 
thee,  and  by  all  those  other  celestial  spirits  in  whose 
work  and  blessedness  thou  shalt  call  them  to  share. 
Amen." 


ON   THE  LORD'S   SUPPER.  253 

CHAPTER   XVIII, 

ON  COMMUNION  IN  THE  LORD'S  SUPPER. 

1.  If  the  reader  has  received  the  ordinance  of  baptism,  and, 
aa  above  recommended,  dedicated  himself  to  God. — 2.  He  is 
urged  to  ratify  that  engagement  at  the  table  of  the  Lord. — 
3.  From  a  view  of  the  ends  for  which  that  ordinance  was 
instituted. — 4.  Whence  its  usefulness  is  strongly  inferred. — 5. 
And  from  the  authority  of  Christ's  appointment,  which  is  sol- 
emnly pressed  on  the  conscience. — 6.  Objections  from  appre- 
hensions of  'unfitness. — 7.  Weakness  of  grace,  etc.,  briefly 
answered. — 8.  At  least,  serious  thoughtfulness  on  this  subject 
is  absolutely  insisted  upon. — 9.  The  chapter  is  closed  with  a 
prayer  for  one  who  desires  to  attend,  yet  finds  himself  pressed 
with  remaining  doubts. 

1.  I  HOPE  this  chapter  will  find  you,  by  a  most 
express  consent,  become  one  of  God's  covenant  people, 
solemnly  and  most  cordially  devoted  to  his  service ; 
and  it  is  my  hearty  prayer,  that  the  engagements 
you  have  made  on  earth  may  be  ratified  in  heaven. 
But  for  your  farther  instruction  and  edification,  give 
me  leave  to  remind  you,  that  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
hath  appointed  a  peculiar  manner  of  expressing  our 
regard  to  him,  by  commemorating  his  dying  love, 
which,  though  it  does  not  forbid  any  other  proper 
way  of  doing  it,  must  by  no  means  be  set  aside  or 
neglected  for  any  human  methods,  how  prudent  and 
expedient  soever  they  may  appear  to  us. 

2.  Our  Lord  has  wisely  ordained,  that  the  advan- 


254  RISE   AND    PROGRESS. 

tages  of  society  should  be  brought  into  religion ;  and 
as,  by  his  command,  professed  Christians  assemble 
together  for  other  acts  of  public  worship,  so  he  has 
been  pleased  to  institute  a  social  ordinance,  in  which 
a  whole  assembly  of  them  is  to  come  to  his  table,  and 
there  to  eat  the  same  bread,  and  drink  the  same  cup. 
And  this  they  are  to  do,  as  a  token  of  their  affection- 
ate remembrance  of  his  dying  love,  of  their  solemn  sur- 
render of  themselves  to  God,  and  of  their  sincere  love 
to  one  another,  and  to  all  their  fellow- Christians. 

3.  That  these  are  indeed  the  great  ends  of  the 
Lord's  supper,  I  shall  not  now  stay  to  argue  at  large. 
You  need  only  read  what  the  apostle  Paul  hath  writ- 
ten in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  chapters  of  his  first 
epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  to  convince  you  fully  of 
this.  He  there  expressly  tells  us,  that  our  Lord  com- 
manded "the  bread  to  be  eaten,"  and  "the  wine  to 
be  drunk,  in  remembrance  of  him,"  1  Cor.  11  : 24,  25, 
or  as  a  commemoration  or  memorial  of  him ;  so  that, 
as  often  as  we  attend  this  institution,  "we  show  forth 
the  Lord's  death,"  which  we  are  to  do  "  even  until 
he  come."  1  Cor.  11  :  26.  And  it  is  particularly  as- 
serted, that  "the  cup  is  the  New  Testament  in  his 
blood;"  that  is,  it  is  a  seal  of  that  covenant  which 
was  ratified  by  his  blood.  Now,  it  is  evident,  that 
in  consequence  of  this,  we  are  to  approach  it  with  a 
view  to  that  covenant,  desiring  its  blessings,  and  re- 
solving, by  divine  grace,  to  comply  with  its  demands. 


ON   THE  LORD'S   SUPPER.  205 

On  the  whole,  therefore,  as  the  apostle  speaks,  we 
have  "  communion  in  the  body  and  the  blood  of 
Christ,"  1  Cor.  10  :  16,  and  partaking  of  his  table 
and  of  his  cup,  we  converse  with  Christ >  and  join 
ourselves  to  him  as  his  people ;  as  the  Jews,  by  eating 
their  sacrifices,  conversed  with  Jehovah,  and  joined 
themselves  to  him.  He  farther  reminds  them,  that, 
though  many,  they  were  "one  bread  and  one  body," 
being  "all  partakers  of  that  one  bread,"  1  Cor.  10  : 17, 
and  being  "all  made  to  drink  into  one  Spirit,"  1  Cor. 
12:13;  that  is,  meeting  together  as  if  they  were  but 
one  family,  and  joining  in  the  commemoration  of  that 
one  blood  which  was  their  common  ransom,  and  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  their  common  head.  Now,  it  is  evi- 
dent, all  these  reasonings  are  equally  applicable  to 
Christians  in  succeeding  ages.  Permit  me,  therefore, 
by  the  authority  of  our  divine  Master,  to  press  upon 
you  the  observation  of  this  precept. 

4.  And  let  me  also  urge  it,  from  the  apparent  ten- 
dency which  it  has  to  promote  your  truest  advantage. 
You  are  setting  out  in  the  Christian  life ;  and  I  have 
reminded  you  at  large  of  the  opposition  you  must 
expect  to  meet  in  it.  It  is  the  love  of  Christ  which 
must  animate  you  to  break  through  all.  What  then 
can  be  more  desirable  than  to  bear  about  with  you  a 
lively  sense  of  it?  and  what  can  awaken  that  sense 
more  than  the  contemplation  of  his  death  as  there 
represented  ?  "Who  can  behold  the  bread  broken,  and 


256  RISE    AND  PROGRESS. 

the  wine  poured  out,  and  not  reflect  how  the  body  of 
the  blessed  Jesus  was  even  torn  in  pieces  by  his  suf- 
ferings, and  his  sacred  blood  poured  forth  like  water 
on  the  ground  ?  Who  can  think  of  the  heart-rending 
agonies  of  the  Son  of  God  as  the  price  of  our  redemp- 
tion and  salvation,  and  not  feel  his  soul  melted  with 
tenderness,  and  inflamed  with  grateful  affection? 
What  an  exalted  view  doth  it  give  us  of  the  blessings 
of  the  gospel-covenant,  when  we  consider  it  as  estab- 
lished in  the  blood  of  God's  only-begotten  Son.  And 
when  we  make  our  approach  to  God  as  our  heavenly 
Father,  and  give  up  ourselves  to  his  service  in  this 
solemn  manner,  what  an  awful  tendency  has  it  to  fix 
the  conviction,  that  we  are  not  our  own,  being  bought 
with  such  a  price.  1  Cor.  6  :  19,  20.  What  a  ten- 
dency has  it  to  guard  us  against  every  temptation  to 
those  sins  which  we  have  so  solemnly  renounced,  and  to 
engage  our  fidelity  to  him  to  whom  we  have  bound 
our  souls  as  with  an  oath.  Well  may  our  hearts  be 
knit  together  in  mutual  love,  Col.  2  :  2,  when  we  con- 
sider ourselves  as  "  one  in  Christ,"  Gal.  3  :  28 :  his 
blood  becomes  the  cement  of  the  society,  joins  us  in 
spirit,  not  only  to  each  other,, but  "  to  all  that  in  every 
place  call  upon  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord, 
both  theirs  and  ours,"  1  Cor.  1  :  2;  and  we  anticipate 
in  pleasing  hope  that  blessed  day,  when  the  assembly 
shall  be  complete,  and  we  shall  all  "be  for  ever  with 
the  Lord  "  1  Thess.  4  :  17.  Well  may  these  views 


ON  THE  LORD'S   SUPPER.  257 

engage  us  to  deny  ourselves,  and  to  "  take  up  our  crosa 
and  follow  our  crucified  Master."  Matt.  16  :  24. 
Well  may  they  engage  us  to  do  our  utmost,  by  prayer, 
and  all  other  suitable  endeavors,  to  serve  his  follow- 
ers and  his  friends ;  to  serve  those  whom  he  hath  pur- 
chased with  his  blood,  and  who  are  to  be  his  associ- 
ates and  ours,  in  the  glories  of  a  happy  immortality. 
5.  It  is  also  the  express  institution  and  command 
of  our  blessed  Redeemer,  that  the  members  of  such 
societies  should  be  tenderly  solicitous  for  the  spirit- 
ual welfare  of  each  other ;  and  that,  on  the  whole, 
his  churches  may  be  kept  pure  and  holy ;  that  they 
should  "  withdraw  themselves  from  every  brother 
that  walketh  disorderly,"  2  Thess.  3:6;  that  they 
should  " mark  such  as  cause  offences"  or  scandals 
among  them,  "contrary  to  the  doctrine  which  they 
have  learned,  and  avoid  them,"  Rom.  16  : 17 ;  "that 
if  any  obey  not  the  word  of  Christ  by  his  apostles," 
they  should  "have  no  fellowship  or  communion  with 
such,  that  they  may  be  ashamed,"  2  Thess.  3  :  14; 
that  they  should  "  not  eat  with  such  as  are  notoriously 
irregular"  in  their  behavior,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
should  "  put  away  from  among  themselves  such  wick- 
ed persons."  1  Cor.  5  : 11—13.  It  is  evident,  there- 
fore, that  the  institution  of  such  societies  is  greatly 
for  the  honor  of  Christianity,  and  for  the  advantage 
of  its  particular  professors.  And  consequently,  every 
consideration  of  obedience  to  our  common  Lord,  and 

Riee  and  Prog.  j  7 


258  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

of  prudent  regard  to  our  own  benefit  and  that  of  our 
brethren,  will  require  those  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  in  sincerity  should  enter  into  them,  and  as- 
semble among  them,  in  these  their  most  solemn  and 
peculiar  acts  of  communion,  at  his  table. 

6.  I  entreat  you,  therefore,  and  if  I  may  presume 
to  say  it,  in  his  name  and  by  his  authority,  I  charge 
it  on  your  conscience,  that  this  precept  of  our  dying 
Lord  go  not,  as  it  were,  for  nothing  with  you ;  but 
that,  if  you  indeed  love  him,  you  keep  this,  as  well 
us  the  rest  of  his  commandments.  I  know  you  may 
be  ready  to  form  objections.  I  have  elsewhere  de- 
bated many  of  the  chief  of  them  at  large,  and  I  hope 
not  without  some  good  effect.*  The  great  question 
is  that  which  relates  to  your  being  prepared  for  a 
worthy  attendance ;  and  in  conjunction  with  what 
has  been  said  before,  I  think  that  may  be  brought  to 
a  very  short  issue.  Have  you,  so  far  as  you  know 
your  own  heart,  been  sincere  in  that  deliberate  sur- 
render of  yourself  to  God,  through  Christ,  which  I 
recommended  in  the  former  chapter  ?  If  you  have, 
whether  it  were  with  or  without  the  particular  form- 
er manner  of  doing  it  there  recommended,  you  have 
certainly  taken  hold  of  the  covenant,  and  therefore 
should  devote  yourself  to  God,  in  obedience  to  all 
his  commands.  And  there  is  not,  and  cannot  be,  any 
other  view  of  the  ordinance  in  which  you  can'  have 
*  See  the  fourth  of  my  Sermons  to  Young  Persons. 


ON   THE   LORD'S   SUPPER.  259 

any  further  objection  to  it.  If  you  desire  to  remem- 
ber Christ's  death ;  if  you  desire  to  renew  the  dedi- 
cation of  yourself  to  God  through  him ;  if  you  would 
list  yourself  among  his  people;  if  you  would  love 
them,  and  do  them  good  according  to  your  ability ; 
and,  on  the  whole,  would  not  allow  yourself  in  the 
practice  of  any  one  known  sin,  or  in  the  omission  of 
any  one  known  duty ;  then  I  will  venture  confidently 
to  say,  not  only  that  you  will  be  welcome  to  the  or- 
dinance, but  that  it  was  instituted  for  such  as  you. 

7.  As  for  other  objections,  a  few  words  may  suffice 
by  way  of  reply.  The  weakness  of  the  religious  prin- 
ciple in  your  soul,  if  it  be  really  implanted  there,  is  so 
far  from  being  an  argument  against  your  seeking  such 
a  method  to  strengthen  it,  that  it  rather  strongly  en- 
forces the  necessity  of  doing  it.  The  neglect  of  this 
solemnity,  by  so  many  that  call  themselves  Christians, 
should  rather  engage  you  so  much  the  more  to  distin- 
guish your  zeal  for  an  institution  in  this  respect  so 
much  slighted  and  inj  ured .  And  as  for  the  fears  of  ag- 
gravated guilt,  in  case  of  apostasy,  do  not  indulge  them. 
This  may,  by  the  divine  blessing,  be  an  effectual  reme- 
dy against  the  evil  you  fear ;  and  it  is  certain,  that 
after  what  you  must  already  have  known  and  felt 
before  you  could  be  brought  into  your  present  situa- 
tion— on  the  supposition  I  have  now  been  making — 
there  can  be  no  room  to  think  of  a  retreat ;  no  room, 
even  for  the  wretched  hope  of  being  less  miserable  than 


260  RISE    AND  PROGRESS. 

the  generality  of  those  that  have  perished.  Your 
scheme,  therefore,  must  be  to  make  your  salvation  as 
sure,  and  to  make  it  as  glorious  as  possible ;  and  I  know 
not  any  appointment  of  our  blessed  Redeemer  which 
may  have  a  more  comfortable  aspect  upon  that  blessed 
end,  than  this  which  I  am  recommending  to  you. 

8.  One  thing  I  would  at  least  insist  upon,  and  I 
see  not  with  what  face  it  can  be  denied.  I  mean, 
that  you  should  take  this  matter  into  serious  consider- 
ation ;  that  you  should  diligently  inquire,  "whether 
you  have  reason  in  your  conscience  to  believe  it  is  the 
will  of  God  you  should  now  approach  to  the  ordi- 
nance or  not ;"  and  that  you  should  continue  your 
reflections,  your  inquiries,  and  your  prayers,  till  you 
find  farther  encouragement  to  come,  if  that  encour- 
agement be  hitherto  wanting.  For  of  this  be  assured, 
that  a  state  in  which  you  are  on  the  whole  unfit  to 
approach  this  ordinance,  is  a  state  in  which  you  are 
destitute  of  the  necessary  preparations  for  death  and 
heaven  ;  in  which,  therefore,  if  you  would  not  allow 
yourselves  to  slumber  on  the  brink  of  destruction,  you 
ought  not  to  rest  so  much  as  one  single  day. 

A  PRAYER  FOR  ONE  WHO  EARNESTLY  DESIRES  TO  AP- 
PROACH THE  TABLE  OF  THE  LORD,  YET  HAS  SOME 
REMAINING  DOUBTS  CONCERNING  HIS  RIGHT  TO  THAT 
SOLEMN  ORDINANCE. 

"  BLESSED  LORD,  I  adore  thy  wise  and  gracious 
appointments  for  the  edification  of  thy  church  in 


ON  THE    LORD'S    SUPPER.  261 

holiness  and  in  love.  I  thank  thee  that  thou  hast 
commanded  thy  servants  to  form  themselves  into 
churches  ;  and  I  adore  my  gracious  Saviour,  who 
hath  instituted,  as  with  his  dying  breath,  the  holy 
solemnity  of  his  supper,  to  he  through  all  ages  a 
memorial  of  his  dying  love,  and  a  bond  of  that  union 
which  it  is  his  sovereign  pleasure  that  his  people 
should  preserve.  I  hope  thou,  Lord,  art  witness  to 
the  sincerity  with  which  I  desire  to  give  myself  up 
to  thee ;  and  that  I  may  call  thee  to  record  on  my 
soul,  that  if  I  now  hesitate  about  this  particular 
manner  of  doing  it,  it  is  not  because  I  would  allow 
myself  to  break  any  of  thy  commands,  or  to  slight 
any  of  thy  favors.  I  trust  thou  knowest  that  my 
present  delay  arises  only  from  my  uncertainty  as  to 
my  duty,  and  a  fear  of  profaning  holy  things  by  an 
unworthy  approach  to  them.  Yet  surely,  0  Lord,  if 
thou  hast  given  me  a  reverence  for  thy  command,  a 
desire  of  communion  with  thee,  and  a  willingness  to 
devote  myself  wholly  to  thy  service,  I  may  regard  it 
as  a  token  for  good,  that  thou  art  disposed  to  receive 
me,  and  that  I  am  not  wholly  unqualified  for  an 
ordinance  which  I  so  highly  honor  and  so  earnestly 
desire.  I  therefore  make  it  my  humble  request  unto 
thee,  0  Lord,  this  day,  that  thou  wouldst  graciously 
be  pleased  to  instruct  me  in  my  duty,  and  to  teach 
me  the  way  which  I  should  take.  '  Examine  me,  0 
Lord,  and  prove  me ;  try  my  reins  and  my  heart.' 


262  RISE    AND   PROGRESS. 

Psalm  26  :  2.  Is  there  any  secret  sin,  in  the  love  and 
practice  of  which  I  would  indulge  ?  Is  there  any 
of  thy  precepts,  in  the  habitual  breach  of  which  I 
would  allow  myself?  I  trust  I  can  appeal  to  thee 
as  a  witness,  that  there  is  not.  Let  me  not,  then, 
wrong  my  own  soul,  by  a  causeless  and  sinful  absence 
from  thy  sacred  table.  But  grant,  0  Lord,  I  beseech 
thee,  that  thy  word,  thy  providence,  and  thy  Spirit, 
may  so  concur  as  to  '  make  my  way  plain  before  me/ 
Prov.  15  :  19.  Scatter  my  remaining  doubts,  if  thou 
seest  that  they  have  no  just  foundation.  Fill  me 
with  more  assured  faith,  with  a  more  ardent  love, 
and  plead  thine  own  cause  with  mine  heart  in  such 
a  manner  as  that  I  may  not  be  able  any  longer  to 
delay  that  approach,  which,  if  I  am  thy  servant  in- 
deed, is  equally  my  duty  and  my  privilege.  In  the 
meantime,  grant  that  it  may  never  be  long  out  of 
my  thoughts ;  but  that  I  may  give  all  diligence,  if 
there  be  any  remaining  occasion  of  doubt,  to  remove 
it  by  a  more  affectionate  concern  to  avoid  whatever 
is  displeasing  to  the  eyes  of  thine  holiness,  and  to 
practise  the  full  extent  of  my  duty.  May  the  views 
of  Christ  crucified  be  so  familiar  to  my  mind,  and 
may  a  sense  of  his  dying  love  so  powerfully  constrain 
my  soul,  that  my  own  growing  experience  may  put 
it  out  of  all  question  that  I  am  one  of  those  for  whom 
he  intended  this  feast  of  love. 

"  And  even  now,  as  joined  to  thy  church  in  spirit 


ON    THE   LORD'S   SUPPER.  263 

and  in  love,  though  not  in  so  express  and  intimate  a 
bond  as  I  could  wish,  would  I  heartily  pray  that 
thy  blessing  may  be  on  all  thy  people  ;  that  thou 
wouldst  'feed  thine  heritage,  and  lift  them  up  for 
ever.'  Psalm  28  :  9.  May  every  Christian  church 
flourish  in  knowledge,  in  holiness,  and  in  love.  May 
all  thy  priests  be  clothed  with  salvation,  that  by  their 
means  thy  chosen  people  may  be  made  joyful.  Psa. 
132  :  16.  And  may  there  be  a  glorious  accession  to 
thy  churches  everywhere,  of  those  who  may  fly  to 
them  '  as  a  cloud,  and  as  doves  to  their  windows.* 
Isaiah  60  :  8.  May  thy  table,  0  Lord,  be  '  furnished 
with  guests,'  Matt.  22  :  10,  and  may  all  that  'love 
thy  salvation  say,  Let  the  Lord  be  magnified,  who 
hath  pleasure  in  the  prosperity  of  his  servants.'  Psa. 
35  :  27.  And  I  earnestly  pray,  that  all  who  profess 
'  to  have  received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord,'  may  be 
duly  careful  to  '  walk  in  him,'  Col.  2  : 6,  and  that 
we  may  all  be  prepared  for  the  general  assembly  of 
the  first-born,  and  may  join  in  that  nobler  and  more 
immediate  worship  where  all  these  types  and  shad- 
ows shall  be  laid  aside  ;  where  even  these  memorials 
shall  be  no  longer  necessary ;  but  a  living,  present 
Redeemer  shall  be  the  everlasting  joy  of  those  who 
here  in  his  absence  have  delighted  to  commemorate 
his  death.  Amen." 


264  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

SOME  MORE  PARTICULAR  DIRECTIONS  FOR  MAINTAINING 
CONTINUAL  COMMUNION  WITH  GOD,  OR  BEING  IN  HIS 
FEAR  ALL  THE  DAY  LONG. 

1 .  A  letter  to  a  pious  friend  on  this  subject  introduced  here.— 
2.  General  plan  of  direction. — 3.  For  the  beginning  of  the 
day. — 4.  Lifting  up  the  heart  to  God  at  our  first  awakening. — 
5-10.  Setting  ourselves  to  the  secret  devotions  of  the  morning, 
with  respect  to  which  particular  advice  is  given. — 11.  For  the 
progress  of  the  day. — 12.  Directions  are  given  concerning  seri- 
ousness in  devotion. — 13.  Diligence  in  business. — 14.  Prudence 
in  recreations. — 15.  Observations  of  Providence. — 16.  Watch- 
fulness against  temptations. — 17.  Dependence  on  divine  influ- 
ence.— 18.  Government  of  the  thoughts  when  in  solitude. — 
19.  Management  of  discourse  in  company.— 20.  For  the  con- 
clusion of  the  day. — 21.  With  the  secret  devotions  of  the  even- 
ing.— 22,  23.  Directions  for  self-examination  at  large. — 24. 
Lying  down  with  a  proper  temper. — 25.  Conclusion  of  the 
letter. — 26.  And  of  the  chapter.  With  a  serious  view  of  death, 
proper  to  be  taken  at  the  close  of  the  day. 

1.  I  WOULD  hope,  that  upon  serious  consideration, 
self-examination,  and  prayer,-  the  reader  has  given 
himself  up  to  God  ;  and  that  his  concern  now  is  to 
inquire,  how  he  may  act  according  to  the  vows  of 
God  which  are  upon  him.  Now,  for  his  farther  as- 
sistance here,  besides  the  general  view  I  have  already 
given  of  the  Christian  temper  and  character,  I  will 


COMMUNION    WITH    GOD.  265 

propose  some  more  particular  directions  relating  to 
maintaining  that  devout,  spiritual,  and  heavenly 
character,  which  may,  in  the  language  of  Scripture, 
be  called  "  a  daily  walking  with  God,  or  being  in  his 
fear  all  the  day  long."  Prov.  23  :  17.  And  I  know 
not  how  I  can  express  the  idea  and  plan  which  1 
have  formed  of  this,  in  a  more  clear  and  distinct 
manner  than  I  did  in  a  letter  which  I  wrote  many 
years  ago  [in.  1727]  to  a  young  person  of  eminent 
piety,  with  whom  I  had  then  an  intimate  friendship ; 
and  who,  to  the  great  grief  of  all  that  knew  him, 
died  a  few  months  after  he  received  it.  Yet  I  hope 
he  lived  long  enough  to  reduce  the  directions  to  prac- 
tise, which  I  wish  and  pray  that  every  reader  may 
do,  so  far  as  they  may  properly  suit  his  capacities 
and  circumstances  in  life,  considering  it  as  if  addressed 
to  himself.  I  say,  and  desire  it  may  be  observed, 
that  I  wish  my  reader  may  act  on  these  directions  so 
far  as  they  may  properly  suit  his  capacity  and  cir- 
cumstances in  life  ;  for  I  would  be  far  from  laying 
down  the  following  particulars  as  universal  rules  for 
all,  or  for  any  one  person  in  the  world,  at  all  times. 
Let  them  be  practised  by  those  that  are  able,  and 
when  they  have  leisure  ;  and  when  you  cannot  reach 
them  all,  come  as  near  the  most  important  of  them 
as  you  conveniently  can.  With  this  precaution  I 
proceed  to  the  letter,  which  I  would  hope,  after  this 
previous  care  to  guard  against  the  danger  of  mistak- 


266  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

ing  it,  will  not  discourage  any,  the  weakest  Chris- 
tian. Let  us  humbly  and  cheerfully  do  what  we  can, 
and  rejoice  that  we  have  so  gracious  a  Father,  who 
knows  all  our  infirmities,  and  so  compassionate  a 
High-priest,  to  recommend  to  divine  acceptance  the 
feeblest  efforts  of  sincere  duty  and  love. 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND — Since  you  desire  my  thoughts 
in  writing,  and  at  large,  on  the  subject  of  our  late 
conversation,  namely,  "  By  what  particular  methods, 
in  our  daily  conduct,  a  life  of  devotion  and  usefulness 
may  be  most  happily  maintained  and  secured,"  I 
set  myself  with  cheerfulness  to  recollect  and  digest 
the  hints  which  I  then  gave  you ;  hoping  it  may  be 
of  some  service  to  you  in  your  most  important  inter- 
ests ;  and  may  also  fix  on  my  own  mind  a  deeper 
sense  of  my  obligations  to  govern  my  own  life  by  the 
rules  I  offer  to  others.  I  esteem  attempts  of  this 
kind  among  the  pleasantest  fruits,  and  the  surest 
cements  of  friendship ;  and  as  I  hope  ours  will  last 
for  ever,  I  am  persuaded  a  mutual  care  to  cherish 
sentiments  of  this  kind  will  add  everlasting  endear- 
ments to  it. 

2.  The  directions  you  will  expect  from  me  on  this 
occasion  naturally  divide  themselves  into  three  heads : 
How  we  are  to  regard  God  in  the  beginning,  the 
progress,  and  the  close  of  the  day.  I  will  open  my 
heart  freely  to  you  with  regard  to  each,  and  will 


DAILY   DEVOTIONS.  267 

leave  you  to  judge  how  far  these  hints  may  suit  your 
circumstances  ;  aiming  at  least  to  keep  between  the 
extremes  of  a  superstitious  strictness  in  trifles,  and 
an  indolent  remissness,  which,  if  admitted  in  little 
things,  may  draw  after  it  criminal  neglects,  and  at 
length  more  criminal  indulgences. 

3.  In  the  beginning  of  the  day,  it  should  cer- 
tainly be  our  care  to  lift  up  our  hearts  to  God  as 
soon  as  we  wake,  and  while  we  are  rising  ;  and  then, 

*to  set  ourselves  seriously  and  immediately  to  the  se- 
cret devotions  of  the  morning. 

4.  For  the  first  of  these,  it  seems  exceedingly  nat- 
ural.   There  are  so  many  things  that  may  suggest  a 
great  variety  of  pious  reflections  and  ejaculations, 
which  are  so  obvious  that  one  would  think  a  serious 
mind  could  hardly  miss  them.     The  ease  and  cheer- 
fulness of  our  mind  on  our  first  awaking ;  the  refresh- 
ment we  find  from  sleep ;  the  security  we  have  en- 
joyed in  that  defenceless  state  ;  the  provision  of  warm 
and  decent  apparel ;  the  cheerful  light  of  the  return- 
ing sun  ;  or  even — which  is  not  unfit  to .  mention  to 
you — the  contrivances  of  art,  taught  and  furnished 
by  the  great  Author  of  all  our  conveniences,  to  sup- 
ply us  with  many  useful  hours  of  life  in  the  absence 
of  the  sun ;  the  hope  of  returning  to  the  dear  society 
of  our  friends  ;  the  prospect  of  spending  another  day 
in  the  service  of  God  and  the  improvement  of  OUT 
own  minds  ;  and  above  all,  the  lively  hope  of  a  joy- 


VJ68  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

ful  resurrection  to  an  eternal  day  of  happiness  and 
glory  :  any  of  these  particulars,  and  many  more 
which  I  do  not  mention,  may  furnish  us  with  matter 
of  pleasing  reflection  and  cheerful  praise  while  we 
are  rising.  And  for  our  farther  assistance,  when  we 
are  alone  at  this  time,  it  may  not  be  improper  to 
speak  sometimes  to  ourselves,  and  sometimes  to  our 
heavenly  Father,  in  the  natural  expressions  of  joy 
and  thankfulness.  Permit  me,  sir,  to  add,  that  if 
we  find  our  hearts  in  such  a  frame  at  our  first  awak-* 
ing,  even  that  is  just  matter  of  praise,  and  the 
rather,  as  perhaps  it  is  an  answer  to  the  prayer  with 
which  we  lay  down. 

5.  For  the  exercise  of  secret  devotion  in  the  morn- 
ing, which  I  hope  will  generally  be  our  first  work,  I 
cannot  prescribe  an  exact  method  to  another.     You 
must,  my  dear  friend,  consult  your  own  taste,  in 
some  measure.     The  constituent  parts  of  the  service 
are,  in  the  general,  plain.     "Were  I  to  propose  a  par- 
ticular model  for  those  who  have  half  or  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour  at  command,  which,  with  pru- 
dent conduct,  I  suppose  most  may  have,  it  should  be 
this: 

6.  To  begin  the  stated  devotions  of  the  day  with 
a  solemn  act  of  praise,  offered  to  God  on  our  knees, 
and  generally  with  a  low,  yet  distinct  voice  ;  ac- 
knowledging the  mercies  we  have  been  reflecting  on 
while  rising,  never  forgetting  to  mention  Christ  as 


DAILY    DEVOTIONS.  269 

the  great  foundation  of  all  our  enjoyments  and  our 
hopes,  or  to  return  thanks  for  the  influences  of  the 
blessed  Spirit,  which  have  led  our  hearts  to  God,  or 
are  then  engaging  us  to  seek  him.  This,  as  well  as 
other  offices  of  devotion  afterwards  mentioned,  must 
be  done  attentively  and  sincerely  ;  for  not  to  offer  our 
praises  heartily,  is,  in  the  sight  of  God,  not  to  praise 
him  at  all.  This  address  of  praise  may  properly  be 
concluded  with  an  express  renewal  of  our  dedication 
to  God,  declaring  our  continued  repeated  resolution 
of  being  devoted  to  him,  and  particularly  of  living  to 
his  glory  the  ensuing  day. 

7.  It  may  be  proper,  after  this,  to  take  a  prospect 
of  the  day  before  us,  so  far  as  we  can  probably  fore- 
see, in  the  general,  where  and  how  it  may  be  spent ; 
and  seriously  to  reflect,  "  How  shall  I  employ  myself 
for  God  this  day  ?    What  business  is  to  be  done,  and 
in  what  order  ?     What  opportunities  may  I  expect, 
either  of  doing  or  of  receiving  good  ?     What  tempta- 
tions am  I  likely  to  be  assaulted  with,  in  any  place, 
company,    or   circumstances,    which   may  probably 
occur  ?    In  what  instance  have  I  lately  failed  ?    And 
how  shall  I  be  safest  now  ?" 

8.  After  this  review  it  will  be  proper  to  offer  up 
a  short  prayer,  begging  that  God  would  quicken  us 
to  each  of  these  foreseen  duties ;  that  he  would  fortify 
us  against  each  of  these  apprehended  dangers  ;  that 
he  would  grant  us  success  in  such  or  such  a  business 


270  RISE    AND   PROGRESS. 

undertaken  for  his  glory ;  and  also  that  he  would 
help  us  to  discover  and  improve  unforeseen  opportu- 
nities to  resist  unexpected  temptations,  and  to  bear 
patiently  and  religiously  any  afflictions  which  may 
surprise  us  in  the  day  on  which  we  are  entering. 

9.  I  would  advise  you  after  this  to  read  some  por- 
tion of  Scripture ;  not  a  great  deal,  nor  the  whole 
Bible  in  its  course,  but  some  select  portions  out  of 
its  most  useful  parts,  perhaps  ten  or  twelve  verses, 
not  troubling  yourself  much  about  the  exact  connec- 
tion,-or  other   critical   niceties  which  may  occur, 
though  at  other  times  I  would  recommend  them  to 
your  inquiry,  as  you^  have  ability  and  opportunity, 
but  considering  them  merely  in  a  devotional  and 
practical  view.    Here  take  such  instructions  as  read- 
ily present  themselves  to  your  thoughts,  repeat  them 
over  to  your  own  conscience,  and  charge  your  heart 
religiously  to  observe  them,  and  a<5t  upon  them,  un- 
der a  sense  of  the  divine  authority  which  attends  them. 
And  if  you  pray  over  the  substance  of  this  Scripture 
with  your  Bible  open  before  you,  it  may  impress  your 
memory  and  your  heart  yet  more  deeply,  and  may 
form  you  to  a  copiousness  and  variety,  both  of  thought 
and  expression,  in  prayer. 

10.  It  might  be  proper  to  close  these  devotions 
with  a  psalm  or  hymn ;  and  I  rejoice  with  you,  that 
through  the  pious  care  of  our  sacred  poets,  we  are 
provided  with  so  rich  a  variety  for  the  assistance  of 


DAILY  DEVOTIONS.  *>7J 

the  closet  and  family  on  these  occasions,  as  well  as 
for  the  service  of  the  sanctuary. 

1 1 .  The  most  material  directions  which  have  oc- 
curred to  me  relating  to  the  progress  of  the  day,  are 
these :  That  we  be  serious  in  the  devotions  of  the 
day ;  that  we  be  diligent  in  the  business  of  it,  that 
is,  in  the  prosecution  of  our  worldly  callings ;  that 
we  be  temperate  and  prudent  in  the  recreations  of 
it ;  that  we  carefully  mark  the  providences  of  the 
day ;  that  we  cautiously  guard  against  the  tempta- 
tions of  it ;  that  we  keep  up  a  lively  and  humble 
dependence  upon  the  divine  influence,  suitable  to 
every  emergency  of  it ;  that  we  govern  our  thoughts 
well  in  the  solitude  of  the  day,  and  our  discourses 
well  in  the  conversations  of  it.     These,  sir,  were  the 
heads  of  a  sermon  which  you  have  lately  heard  me 
preach,  and  to  which  I  know  you  referred  in  that 
request  which  I  am  now  endeavoring  to  answer.     I 
will  therefore  touch  upon  the  most  material  hints 
which  fall  under  each  of  these  particulars. 

12.  For  seriousness  in  devotion,  whether  public  or 
domestic,  let  us  take  a  few  moments  before  we  enter 
upon  such  solemnities,  to  pause,  and  reflect  on  the 
perfections  of  the  God  we  are  addressing,  on  the  im- 
portance of  the  business  we  are  coming  about,  on  the 
pleasure  and  advantage  of  a  regular  and  devout  at- 
tendance, and  on  the  guilt  and  folly  of  an  hypocriti- 
cal formality.     When  engaged,  let  us  maintain  a 


272  RISE   AND  PROGRESS. 

strict  watchfulness  over  our  own  spirits,  and  check 
the  first  wanderings  of  thought.  And  when  the 
duty  is  over,  let  us  immediately  reflect  on  the  man- 
ner in  which  it  has  been  performed,  and  ask  our  own 
consciences  whether  we  have  reason  to  conclude  that 
we  are  accepted  of  God  in  it.  For  there  is  a  certain 
manner  of  going  through  these  offices,  which  our  own 
hearts  will  immediately  tell  us  "it  is  impossible  for 
God  to  approve  ;"  and  if  we  have  inadvertently  fallen 
into  it,  we  ought  to  be  deeply  humbled  before  God 
for  it,  lest  "our  very  prayer  become  sin."  Psalm 
109:7. 

13.  As  for  the  hours  of  worldly  business,  whether 
it  be  that  of  the  han'ds,  or  the  labor  of  a  learned  life 
not  immediately  relating  to  religious  matters,  let  us 
set  to  the  prosecution  of  it  with  a  sense  of  God's  au- 
thority, and  with  a  regard  to  his  glory.    Let  us  avoid 
a  dreaming,  sluggish,  indolent  temper,  which  nods 
over  its  work,  and  does  only  the  business  of  one  hour 
in  two  or  three.     In  opposition  to  this,  which  runs 
through  the  life  of  some  people,  who  yet  think  they 
are  never  idle,  let  us  endeavor  to  despatch  as  much 
as  we  well  can  in  a  little  time  ;  considering  that  it 
is  but  a  little  we  have  in  all.     And  let  us  be  habit- 
ually sensible  of  the  need  we  have  of  the  divine 
blessing  to  make  our  labors  successful. 

14.  For  seasons  of  diversion,  let  us  take  care  that 
our  recreations  be  well-chosen  ;  that  they  be  pursued 


DAILY  DEVOTIONS.  273 

with,  a  good  intention,  to  fit  us  for  a  renewed  appli- 
cation to  the  labors  of  life ;  and  thus  that  they  be 
only  used  in  subordination  to  the  honor  of  God,  the 
great  end  of  all  our  actions.  Let  us  take  heed,  that 
our  hearts  be  not  estranged  from  God  by  them,  and 
that  they  do  not  take  up  too  much  of  our  time  ;  al- 
ways remembering  that  the  faculties  of  human  na- 
ture, and  the  advantages  of  the  Christian  revelation, 
were  not  given  us  in  vain  ;  but  that  we  are  always 
to  be  in  pursuit  of  some  great  and  honorable  end, 
and  to  indulge  ourselves  in  amusements  and  diver- 
sions no  farther  than  as  they  make  a  part  in  a 
scheme  of  rational  and  manly,  benevolent  and  pious 
conduct. 

15.  For  the  observation  of  Providence,  it  will  be 
useful  to  regard  the  divine  interposition  in  our  com* 
forts  and  in  our  afflictions.  In  our  comforts,  whether 
more  common  or  extraordinary :  that  we  find  our- 
selves in  continued  health ;  that  we  are  furnished 
with  food  for  support  and  pleasure  ;  that  we  have  so 
many  agreeable  ways  of  employing  our  time ;  that 
we  have  so  many  friends,  and  those  so  good,  and  so 
happy ;  that  our  business  goes  on  so  prosperously ; 
that  we  go  out  and  come  in.  safely ;  and  that  we 
enjoy  composure  and  cheerfulness  of  spirit,  without 
which  nothing  else  could  be  enjoyed  :  all  these  should 
be  regarded  as  providential  favors,  and  due  acknow- 
ledgments should  be  made  to  God  on  these  accounts, 

Riae- and  Prog.  18 


274  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 

as  we  pass  through  such  agreeable  scenes.  On  the 
other  hand,  Providence  is  to  be  regarded  in  every 
disappointment,  in  every  loss,  in  every  pain,  in  every 
instance  of  unkindness  from  those  who  have  professed 
friendship ;  and  we  should  endeavor  to  argue  our- 
selves into  a  patient  submission,  from  this  considera- 
tion, that  the  hand  of  God  is  always  mediately,  if 
not  immediately,  in  each  of  them ;  and  that,  if  they 
are  not  properly  the  work  of  Providence,  they  are  at 
least  under  his  direction.  It  is  a  reflection  which 
we  should  particularly  make  with  relation  to  those 
little  cross  accidents — as  we  are  ready  to  call  them — 
and  those  infirmities  and  follies  in  the  temper  and 
conduct  of  our  intimate  friends,  which  may  else  be 
ready  to  discompose  us.  And  it  is  the  more  neces- 
sary to  guard  our  minds  here,  as  wise  and  good  men 
often  lose  the  command  of  themselves  on  these  com- 
paratively little  occasions ;  who,  calling  up  reason 
and  religion  to  their  assistance,  stand  the  shock  of 
great  calamities  with  fortitude  and  resolution. 

16.  For  watchfulness  against  temptations,  it  is 
necessary,  when  changing  our  place,  or  our  employ- 
ment, to  reflect,  "What  snares  attend  me  here?" 
And  as  this  should  be  our  habitual  care,  so  we  should 
especially  guard  against  those  snares  which  in  the 
morning  we  foresaw.  And  when  we  are  entering 
on  those  circumstances  in  which  we  expected  the 
assault,  we  should  reflect,  especially  if  it  be  a  matter 


DAILY  DEVOTIONS.  275 

of  great  importance,  "  Now  the  combat  is  going  to 
begin ;  now  God  and  the  blessed  angels  are  observ- 
ing what  constancy,  what  fortitude  there  is  in  my 
soul,  and  how  far  the  divine  authority,  and  the  re- 
membrance of  my  own  prayers  and  resolutions,  will 
weigh  with  me  when  it  comes  to  a  trial." 

17.  As  for  dependence  on  divine  grace  and  influ- 
ence, it  must  be  universal ;  and  since  we  always 
need  it,  we  must  never  forget  that  necessity.  A  mo- 
ment spent  in  humble  fervent  breathings  after  the 
communications  of  the  divine  assistance,  may  do 
more  good  than  many  minutes  spent  in  mere  rea- 
sonings ;  and  though  indeed  this  should  not  be  neg- 
lected, since  the  light  of  reason  is  a  kind  of  divine 
illumination,  yet  still  it  ought  to  be  pursued  in  a 
due  sense  of  our  dependence  on  the  Father  of  lights, 
or  where  we  think  ourselves  wisest,  we  may  "  be- 
come vain  in  our  imaginations,"  Rom.  1  :  21,  22, 
Let  us  therefore  always  call  upon  God,  and  say,  for 
instance,  when  we  are  going  to  pray,  "  Lord,  fix  my 
attention.  Awaken  my  holy  affections,  and  pour 
out  upon  me  the  spirit  of  grace  and  of  supplication." 
Zech.  12:10.  "When  taking  up  a  Bible  or  any  other 
good  book,  "  Open  thou  mine  eyes,  that  I  may  behold 
wondrous  things  out  of  thy  law.  Psalm  119  :  18. 
Enlighten  my  understanding.  Warm  my  heart, 
May  my  good  resolutions  be  confirmed,  and  all  the 
course  of  my  life  be  in  a  proper  manner  regulated. " 


276  RISE  AND   PROGRESS. 

"When  addressing-  ourselves  to  any  worldly  business, 
"  Lord,  prosper  thou  the  work  of  mine  hands  upon 
me,  Psalm  90  :  17,  and  give  thy  blessing  to  my  hon- 
est endeavors."  When  going  to  any  kind  of  recrea- 
tion, "  Lord,  bless  my  refreshments.  Let  me  not  for- 
get thee  in  them,  but  still  keep  thy  glory  in  view." 
When  coming  into  company,  "  Lord,  may  I  do,  and 
get  good.  Let  no  corrupt  communication  proceed 
out  of  my  mouth,  but  that  which  is  good  to  the  use 
of  edifying,  that  it  may  minister  grace  to  the  hear- 
ers." Eph.  4  :  29.  When  entering  upon  difficulties, 
"  Lord,  give  me  that  wisdom  which  is  profitable  to 
direct."  Eccles.  10  :  10.  "  Teach  me  thy  way,  and 
lead  me  in  a  plain  path."  Psalm  27  :  11.  When 
encountering  sore  temptations,  "  Let  thy  strength,  0 
gracious  Redeemer,  be  made  perfect  in  my  weak- 
ness." 2  Cor.  12  :  9.  These  instances  may  illus- 
trate the  design  of  this  direction,  though  they  may 
be  far  from  a  complete  enumeration  of  all  the  cir- 
cumstances in  which  it  is  to  be  regarded. 

18.  For  the  government  of  our  thoughts  in  soli- 
tude, let  us  accustom  ourselves,  on  all  occasions,  to 
exercise  a  due  command  over  our  thoughts.  Let  us 
take  care  of  those  entanglements  of  passion,  or  those 
attachments  to  any  present  interest  in  view,  which 
would  deprive  us  of  our  power  over  them.  Let  us 
set  before  us  some  profitable  subject  of  thought ; 
such  as  the  perfection  of  the  blessed  (rod,  the  love 


DAILY  DEVOTIONS.  277 

of  Christ,  the  value  of  time,  the  certainty  and  im- 
portance of  death  and  judgment,  and  the  eternity  of 
happiness  or  misery  which  is  to  follow.  Let  us  also, 
at  such  intervals,  reflect  on  what  we  have  observed 
as  to  the  state  of  our  own  souls,  with  regard  to  the 
advance  or  decline  of  religion ;  or  on  the  last  sermon 
we  have  heard,  or  the  last  portion  of  Scripture  we 
have  read.  You  may,  perhaps,  in  this  connection, 
sir,  recollect  what  I  have,  if  I  remember  right,  pro- 
posed to  you  in  conversation ;  that  it  might  be  very 
useful  to  select  some  one  verse  of  Scripture  which 
we  have  met  with  in  the  morning,  and  to  treasure  it 
up  in  our  mind,  resolving  to  think  of  that  at  any 
time  when  we  are  at  a  loss  for  matter  of  pious  re- 
flection, in  any  intervals  of  leisure  for  entering  upon 
it.  This  will  often  be  as  a  spring  from  whence 
many  profitable  and  delightful  thoughts  may  rise, 
which  perhaps  we  did  not  before  see  in  that  connec- 
tion and  force.  Or  if  it  should  not  be  so,  yet  I  am 
persuaded  it  will  be  much  better  to  repeat  the  same 
scripture  in  our  mind  a  hundred  times  in  a  day,  with 
some  pious  ejaculation  formed  upon  it,  than  to  leave 
our  thoughts  at  the  mercy  of  all  those  various  trifles 
which  may  otherwise  intrude  upon  us,  the  variety  of 
which  will  be  far  from  making  amends  for  their 
vanity. 

19.  Lastly,  for  the  government  of  our  discourse  in 
company.     We  should  take  great  care  that  nothing 


278  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

may  escape  us  which  can  expose  us,  or  our  Christian 
profession,  to  censure  and  reproach  ;  nothing  injuri- 
ous to  those  that  are  absent,  or  those  that  are  pres- 
ent; nothing  malignant,  nothing  insincere,  nothing 
which  may  corrupt,  nothing  which  may  provoke, 
nothing  which  may  mislead  those  ahout  us.  Nor 
should  we  by  any  means  be  content  that  what  we 
say  is  innocent — it  should  be  our  desire  that  it  may 
be  edifying  to.  ourselves  and  others.  In  this  view, 
we  should  endeavor  to  have  some  subject  of  useful 
discourse  always  ready ;  in  which  we  may  be  as- 
sisted by  the  hints  given  about  furniture  for  thought, 
under  the  former  head.  We  should  watch  for  decent 
opportunities  of  introducing  useful  reflections ;  and 
if  a  pious  friend  attempt  to  do  it,  we  should  endeavor 
to  second  it  immediately.  When  the  conversation 
does  not  turn  directly  on  religious  subjects,  we  should 
endeavor  to  make  it  improving  some  other  way  :  we 
should  reflect  on  the  character  and  capacities  of  our 
company,  that  we  may  lead  them  to  talk  of  what 
they  understand  best ;  for  their  discourses  on  those 
subjects  will  probably  be  most  pleasant  to  them- 
selves, as  well  as  most  useful  to  us.  And  in  pauses 
of  discourse,  it  may  not  be  improper  to  lift  up  a  holy 
ejaculation  to  God,  that  his  grace  may  assist  us  and 
our  friends  in  our  endeavors  to  do  good  to  each  other ; 
that  all  we  say  or  do  may  be  worthy  the  character 
of  reasonable  creatures  and  of  Christians. 


EVENING  DEVOTIONS.  279 

20.  The  directions  for  a  religious  closing  of  the 
day,  which  I  shall  here  mention,  are  only  two  :  Let 
us  see  to  it,  that  the  secret  duties  of  the  evening  be 
well  performed  ;  and  let  us  lie  down  on  our  beds  in 
a  pious  frame. 

21.  For  secret  devotion  in  the  evening,  I  would 
propose  a  method  something  different  from  that  in 
the  morning ;  but  still,  as  then,  with  due  allowances 
for  circumstances,  which  may  make  unthought-of  al- 
terations proper.     I  should  advise  to  read  a  portion 
of  Scripture  in  the  first  place,  with  suitable  reflec- 
tions and  prayer,  as  above ;  then  to  read  a  hymn,  or 
psalm ;  after  this  to  enter  on  self-examination,  to  be 
followed  by  a  longer  prayer  than  that  which  followed 
reading,  to  be  formed  on  this  review  of  the  day.     In 
this  address  to  the  throne  of  grace,  it  will  be  highly 
proper  to  entreat  that  God  would  pardon  the  omis- 
sions and  offences  of  the  day ;  to  praise  him  for  mer- 
cies temporal  and  spiritual ;  to  recommend  ourselves 
to  his  protection  for  the  ensuing  night ;  with  proper 
petitions  for  others,  whom  we  ought  to  bear  on  our 
hearts  before  him ;  and  particularly  for  those  friends 
with  whom  we  have  conversed  or  corresponded  in 
the  preceding  day.     Many  other  concerns  will  occur, 
both  in  morning  and  evening  prayer,  which  I  have 
not  here  hinted  at ;  but  I  did  not  apprehend  that  a 
full  enumeration  of  these  things  belonged,  by  any 
means,  to  our  present  purpose. 


280  RISE   AND    PROGRESS. 

22.  Before  I  quit  this  head,  I  must  take  the  liberty 
to  remind  you  that  self-examination  is  so  important 
a  duty,  that  it  will  be  worth  our  while  to  spend  a 
few  words  upon  it.  And  this  branch  of  it  is  so  easy, 
that  when  we  have  proper  questions  before  us,  any 
person  of  a  common  understanding  may  hope  to  go 
through  it  with  advantage,  under  a  divine  blessing. 
I  offer  you  therefore  the  following  queries,  which  I 
hope  you  will,  with  such  alterations  as  you  may 
judge  requisite,  keep  near  you  for  daily  use.  "  Did 
I  awake  as  with  God  this  morning,  and  rise  with  a 
grateful  sense  of  his  goodness  ?  How  were  the  secret 
devotions  of  the  morning  performed  ?  Did  I  offer  my 
solemn  praises,  and  renew  the  dedication  of  myself 
to  God,  with  becoming  attention  and  suitable  affec- 
tions ?  Did  I  lay  my  scheme  for  the  business  of  the 
day  wisely  and  well  ?  How  did  I  read  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  any  other  devotional  or  practical  piece 
which  I  afterwards  found  it  convenient  to  review  ? 
Did  it  do  my  heart  good,  or  was  it  a  mere  amuse- 
ment ?  How  have  the  other  stated  devotions  of  the 
day  been  attended,  whether  in  the  family  or  in  pub- 
lic ?  Have  I  pursued  the  common  business  of  the 
day  with  diligence  and  spirituality,  doing  every  thing 
in  season,  and  with  all  convenient  despatch,  and  as 
'unto  the  Lord?'  Col.  3  :  23.  "What  time  have  I 
lost  this  day,  in  the  morning  or  the  forenoon,  in  the 
afternoon  or  the  evening  ?"  for  these  divisions 


EVENING  DEVOTIONS.  281 

assist  your  recollection ;  "  and  what  has  occasioned 
the  loss  of  it  ?  With  what  temper,  and  under  what 
regulations  have  the  recreations  of  this  day  been 
pursued  ?  Have  I  seen  the  hand  of  God  in  my  mer- 
cies, health,  cheerfulness,  food,  clothing,  books,  pres- 
ervation in  journeys,  success  of  business,  conversation, 
and  kindness  of  friends,  etc  ?  Have  I  seen  it  in  afflic- 
tions, and  particularly  in  little  things,  which  had  a 
tendency  to  vex  and  disquiet  me  ?  Hare  I  received 
my  comforts  thankfully,  and  my  afflictions  submis- 
sively ?  How  have  I  guarded  against  the  temptations 
of  the  day,  particularly  against  this  or  that  tempta- 
tion which  I  foresaw  in  the  morning  ?  Have  I  main- 
tained a  dependence  on  divine  influence  ?  Have  I 
'  lived  by  faith  on  the  Son  of  God,'  Gal.  2  :  20,  and 
regarded  Christ  this  day  as  my  teacher  and  governor, 
my  atonement  and  intercessor,  my  example  and  guar- 
dian, my  strength  and  forerunner  ?  Have  I  been 
looking  forward  to  death  and  eternity  this  day,  and 
considered  myself  as  a  probationer  for  heaven,  and, 
through  grace,  an  expectant  of  it  ?  Have  I  governed 
my  thoughts  well,  especially  in  such  or  such  an  in- 
terval of  solitude  ?  How  was  my  subject  of  thought 
this  day  chosen,  and  how  was  it  regarded  ?  Have 
I  governed  my  discourses  well,  in  such  and  such 
company  ?  Did  I  say  nothing  passionate,  mischiev- 
ous, slanderous,  imprudent,  impertinent?  Has  my 
heart  this  day  been  full  of  love  to  God,  and  to  all 


282  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

mankind ;  and  have  I  sought,  and  found,  and  im- 
proved opportunities  of  doing  and  of  getting  good  ? 
With  what  attention  and  improvement  have  I 
read  the  Scripture  this  evening  ?  How  was  self-ex- 
amination performed  the  last  night ;  and  how  have 
I  profited  this  day  by  any  remarks  I  then  made 
an  former  negligences  and  mistakes?  With  what 
temper  did  I  then  lie  down,  and  compose  myself  to 
sleep  ?" 

23.  You  will  easily  see,  sir,  that  these  questions 
are  so  adjusted  as  to  be  an  abridgment  of  the  most 
material  advice  I  have  given  in  this  letter ;  and  1 
believe  I  need  not,  to  a  person  of  your  understanding, 
say  any  thing  as  to  the  usefulness  of  such  inquiries. 
Conscience  will  answer  them  in  a  few  minutes  ;  but 
if  you  think  them  too  large  and  particular,  you  may 
make  still  a  shorter  abstract  for  daily  use,  and  re- 
serve these,  with  such  obvious  alteration  as  will  then 
be  necessary,  for  seasons  of  more  than  ordinary  ex- 
actness in  review,  which  I  hope  will  occur  at  least 
once  a  week.     Secret  devotion  being  thus  performed, 
before  drowsiness  renders  us  unfit  for  it,  the  interval 
between  that  and  our  going  to  rest  must  be  conducted 
by  the  rules  mentioned  under  the  next  head.     And 
nothing  will  farther  remain  to  be  considered  here, 
but, 

24.  The   sentiments  with  which  we  should   lie 
down  and  compose  ourselves  to  sleep.     Now  here  it 


EVENING  DEVOTIONS.  283 

is  obviously  suitable  to  think  of  the  divine  goodness, 
in  adding  another  day,  and  the  mercies  of  it,  to  the 
former  days  and  mercies  of  our  life ;  to  take  notice 
of  the  indulgence  of  Providence  in  giving  us  com- 
modious habitations  and  easy  beds,  and  continuing 
to  us  such  health  of  body  that  we  can  lay  ourselves 
down  at  ease  upon  them,  and  such  serenity  of  mind 
as  leaves  us  any  room  to  hope  for  refreshing  sleep — 
a  refreshment  to  be  sought,  not  merely  as  an  indul- 
gence to  animal  nature,  but  as  what  our  wise  Crea- 
tor, in  order  to  keep  us  humble  in  the  midst  of  so 
many  infirmities,  has  been  pleased  to  make  necessary 
to  our  being  able  to  pursue  his  service  with  renewed 
alacrity.  Thus  may  our  sleeping,  as  well  as  our 
waking  hours,  be  in  some  sense  devoted  to  God. 
And  when  we  are  just  going  to  resign  ourselves  to 
the  image  of  death,  to  what  one  of  the  ancients 
beautifully  calls  "its  lesser  mysteries,"  it  is  also  evi- 
dently proper  to  think  seriously  of  that  end  of  all  the 
living,  and  to  renew  those  actings  of  repentance  and 
faith  which  we  should  judge  necessary  if  we  were 
to  wake  no  more  here.  You  have  once,  sir,  seen  a 
meditation  of  that  kind  in  my  hand  :  I  will  transcribe 
it  for  you  in  the  postscript ;  and  therefore  shall  add 
no  more  to  this  head,  but  here  put  a  close  to  the 
directions  you  desired. 

25.  I  am  persuaded  the  most  important  of  them 
have,  in  one  form  or  another,  been  long  regarded  by 


284  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 

you,  and  made  governing  maxims  of  your  life.  1 
shall  greatly  rejoice  if  the  review  of  these,  and  the 
examination  and  trial  of  the  rest,  may  be  the  means 
of  leading  you  into  more  intimate  communion  with 
God,  and  so  of  rendering  your  life  more  pleasant  and 
useful,  and  your  eternity,  whenever  that  is  to  com- 
mence, more  glorious.  There  is  not  a  human  crea- 
ture upon  earth  whom  I  should  not  delight  to  serve 
in  these  important  interests  ;  but  I  can  faithfully  as- 
sure you,  that  I  am,  with  particular  respect, 

Dear  sir, 
Your  very  affectionate  friend  and  servant. 

26.  This,  reader,  with  the  alteration  of  a  very  few 
words,  is  the  letter  I  wrote  to  a  worthy  friend  (now, 
T  doubt  not,  with  God)  about  sixteen  years  ago  ;  and 
I  can  assuredly  say,  that  the  experience  of  each  of 
these  years  has  confirmed  me  in  these  views,  and 
established  me  in  the  persuasion,  that  one  day  thus 
spent  is  far  preferable  to  whole  years  of  sensuality 
and  the  neglect  of  religion.  I  chose  to  insert  the 
letter  as  it  is,  because  I  thought  the  freedom  and 
particularity  of  the  advice  I  had  given  in  it  would 
appear  most  natural  in  its  original  form ;  and  as  I 
propose  to  enforce  these  counsels  in  the  next  chapter, 
I  shall  conclude  this  with  that  meditation  which  I 
promised  my  friend  as  a  postscript,  and  which  I 
could  wish  you  to  make  so  familiar  to  yourself,  as 


EVENING  DEVOTIONS.  285 

that  you  may  be  able  to  recollect  the  substance  of  it 
whenever  you  compose  yourself  to  sleep. 

A  SERIOUS  VIEW  OF  DEATH,  PROPER  TO  BE  TAKEN  A3 
WE  LIE  DOWN  ON  OUR  BEDS. 

"  0  my  soul,  look  forward  a  little  with  seriousness 
and  attention,  and  learn  wisdom  by  the  consideration 
of  thy  latter  end.  Deut.  22  :  29.  Another  of  thy 
mortal  days  is  now  numbered  and  finished  ;  and  as  I 
have  put  off  my  clothes,  and  laid  myself  upon  my 
bed  for  the  repose  of  the  night,  so  will  the  day  of 
life  quickly  come  to  its  period ;  so  must  the  body  it- 
self be  put  off  and  laid  to  its  repose  in  a  bed  of  dust. 
There  let  it  rest ;  for  it  will  be  no  more  regarded  by 
me  than  the  clothes  which  I  have  now  laid  aside. 
I  have  another  far  more  important  concern  to  attend. 
Think,  0  my  soul,  when  death  comes,  thou  art  to 
enter  upon  the  eternal  world,  and  to  be  fixed  either 
in  heaven  or  in  hell.  All  the  schemes  and  cares,  the 
hopes  and  fears,  the  pleasures  and  sorrows  of  life, 
will  come  to  their  period,  and  the  world  of  spirits 
will  open  upon  thee.  And  0,  how  soon  may  it  open. 
Perhaps  before  the  returning  sun  bring  on  the  light 
of  another  day.  To-morrow's  sun  mav  not  enlighten 
my  eyes,  but  only  shine  round  a  senseless  corpse, 
which  may  lie  in  the  place  of  this  animated  body. 
At  least  the  death  of  many  in  the  flower  of  their 
age,  and  many  who  were  superior  to  me  in  capacity, 


RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 


piety,  and  the  prospects  of  usefulness,  may  loudly 
warn  me  not  to  depend  on  a  long  life,  and  engage 
me  rather  to  wonder  that  I  am  continued  here  so 
many  years,  than  to  be  surprised  if  I  am  speedily 
removed. 

"  And  now,  0  my  soul,  answer  as  in  the  sight  of 
God,  Art  thou  ready  ?  Art  thou  ready  ?  Is  there 
no  sin  unforsaken,  and  so  unrepented  of,  to  fill  me 
with  anguish  in  my  departing  moments,  and  to  make 
me  tremble  on  the  brink  of  eternity?  Dread  to 
remain  under  the  guilt  of  it,  and  this  moment  re- 
new thy  most  earnest  applications  to  the  mercy  of 
God,  and  the  blood  of  a  Redeemer,  for  deliverance 
from  it. 

"  But  if  the  great  account  be  already  adjusted,  if 
thou  hast  cordially  repented  of  thy  numerous  of- 
fences, if  thou  hast  sincerely  committed  thyself,  by 
faith,  into  the  hands  of  the  blessed  Jesus,  and  hast 
not  renounced  thy  covenant  with  him,  by  turning  to 
the  allowed  practice  of  sin,  then  start  not  at  the 
thought  of  a  separation :  it  is  not  in  the  power  of 
death  to  hurt  a  soul  devoted  to  God,  and  united  to 
the  great  Redeemer.  It  may  take  from  me  my 
worldly  comforts ;  it  may  disconcert  and  break  my 
schemes  for  service  on  earth ;  but  0,  my  soul,  diviner 
entertainments  and  nobler  services  'wait  thee  be- 
yond the  grave.'  For  ever  blessed  be  the  name  of 
God  and  the  love  of  Jesus,  for  these  quieting,  encour- 


EVENING    DEVOTIONS.  28? 

aging,  joyful  views.  I  will  now  lay  me  down  in 
peace,  and  sleep,  Psalm  4  :  8,  free  from  the  fears  of 
what  shall  be  the  issue  of  this  night,  whether  life  or 
death  be  appointed  for  me.  Father,  into  thy  hands 
I  commend  my  spirit,  Luke  23  :  46,  for  thou  hast 
redeemed  me,  0  God  of  truth,  Psalm  31  :  5,  and 
therefore  I  can  cheerfully  refer  it  to  thy  choice, 
whether  I  shall  awake  in  this  world  or  another." 


888  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

A  SERIOUS  PERSUASIVE  TO  SUCH  A  METHOD  OF  SPKNP- 
ING  OUR  DAYS  AS  IS  REPRESENTED  IN  THE  FORMEit 
CHAPTER. 

1,  2.  Christians  fix  their  views  too  low,  and  indulge  too  in- 
dolent a  disposition,  which  makes  it  more  necessary  to  urge 
such  a  life  as  that  under  consideration. — 3.  It  is  therefore  en- 
forced, from  its  being  apparently  reasonable,  considering  our- 
selves as  the  creatures  of  God,  and  as  redeemed  by  the  blood 
of  Christ. — 4.  From  its  evident  tendency  to  conduce  to  our 
comfort  in  life. — 5.  From  the  influence  it  will  have  to  promote 
our  usefulness  to  others. — 6.  From  its  efficacy  to  make  afflic- 
tions lighter. — 7.  From  its  happy  aspect  on  death. — 8.  And 
on  eternity. — 9.  Whereas  not  to  desire  improvement  would 
argue  a  soul  destitute  of  religion.  A  prayer  suited  to  the  state 
of  a  soul  who  longs  to  attain  the  life  recommended  above. 

1.  I  HAVE  been  assigning,  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ter, what  I  fear  will  seem  to  some  of  my  readers  so 
hard  a  task,  that  they  will  want  courage  to  attempt 
it ;  and  indeed  it  is  a  life  in  many  respects  so  far 
above  that  of  the  generality  of  Christians,  that  I  am 
not  without  apprehensions  that  many  who  deserve 
the  name  may  think  the  directions,  after  all  the  pre- 
cautions with  which  I  have  proposed  them,  are  car- 
ried to  an  unnecessary  degree  of  nicety  and  strictness. 
But  I  am  persuaded  much  of  the  credit  and  comfort 
of  Christianity  is  lost,  in  consequence  of  its  professors 


DEVOTION  TO   GOD  URGED.  289 

fixing  their  aims  too  low,  and  not  conceiving  of  their 
high  and  holy  calling  in  so  elevated  and  sublime  a 
view  as  the  nature  of  religion  wou4d  require,  and  the 
word  of  God  would  direct.  I  am  fully  convinced, 
that  the  expressions  of  "  walking  with  God,"  of  "  be- 
ing in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  all  the  day  long,"  Prov. 
23  :  17,  and  above  all,  that  of  "  loving  the  Lord  our 
God  with  all  our  heart,  and  soul,  and  mind,  and 
strength,"  Mark  12  :  30,  must  require,  if  not  all  these 
circumstances,  yet  the  substance  of  all  that  I  have 
been  recommending,  so  far  as  we  have  capacity,  lei- 
sure, and  opportunity  :  and  I  cannot  but  think  that 
many  might  command  more  of  the  latter,  and  per- 
haps improve  their  capacities  too,  if  they  would  take 
a  due  care  in  the  government  of  themselves  ;  if  they 
would  give  up  vain  and  unnecessary  diversions,  and 
certain  indulgences,  which  only  suit  to  delight  the 
lower  part  of  our  nature,  and,  to  say  the  best  of  them, 
deprive  us  of  pleasures  much  better  than  themselves, 
if  they  do  not  plunge  us  into  guilt.  Many  of  these 
rules  would  appear  easily  practicable,  if  men  would 
learn  to  know  the  value  of  time,  and  particularly  to 
redeem  it  from  unnecessary  sleep,  which  \vastes  many 
golden  hours  of  the  day  :  hours  in  which  many  of 
God's  servants  are  delighting  themselves  in  him,  and 
drinking  in  full  draughts  of  the  water  of  life  ;  while 
these  their  brethren  are  slumbering  upon  their  beds, 
and  lost  in  vain  dreams,  as  far  below  the  common 

Riae  and  Prog.  1 9 


290  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

entertainments  of  a  rational  creature  as  the  pleas- 
ures of  the  sublimest  devotion  are  above  them. 

2.  I  know,  likewise,  that  the  mind  is  very  fickle 
and  inconstant,  and  that  it  is  a  hard  thing  to  preserve 
such  a  government  and  authority  over  our  thoughts 
as  would  he  very  desirable,  and  as  the  plan  I  have 
laid  down  will  require.     But  so  much  of  the  honor 
of  God,  and  so  much  of  our  true  happiness  depends 
upon  it,  that  I  beg  you  will  give  me  a  patient  and 
attentive  hearing  while  I  am  pleading  with  you,  and 
that  you  will  seriously  examine  the  arguments,  and 
then  judge  whether  a  care  and  conduct  like  that 
which  I  have  advised  be  not  in  itself  reasonable,  and 
whether  it  will  not  be  highly  conducive  to  your  com- 
fort and  usefulness  in  life,  your  peace  in  death,  and 
the  advancement  and  increase  of  your  eternal  glory. 

3.  Let  conscience  say,  whether  such  a  life  as  I 
have  described  above  be  not  in  itself  highly  reason- 
able.    Look  over  the  substance  of  it  again,  and  bring 
it  under  a  close  examination ;  for  I  am  very  appre- 
hensive that  some  weak  objections  may  rise  against 
the  whole,  which  may  in  their  consequence  affect 
particulars,  against  which  no  reasonable  man  would 
presume  to  make  any  objection  at  all.     Recollect,  0 
Christian,  carry  it  with  you  in  your  memory  and 
your  heart,  while  you  are  pursuing  this  review,  that 
you  are  the  creature  of  God,  that  you  are  purchased 
with  the  blood  of  Jesus ;  and  then  say  whether  these 


DEVOTION   TO  GOD    URGED.  29] 

relations  in  which  you  stand  do  not  demand  all  that 
application  and  resolution  which  I  would  engage  you 
to.  Suppose  all  the  counsels  I  have  given  you  re- 
duced into  practice  ;  suppose  every  day  begun  and 
concluded  with  such  devout  breathings  after  God, 
and  such  holy  retirements  for  morning  and  evening 
converse  with  him  and  with  your  own  heart ;  sup- 
pose a  daily  care,  in  contriving  how  your  time  may 
be  managed,  and  in  reflecting  how  it  has  been  em- 
ployed ;  suppose  this  regard  to  God,  this  sense  of  his 
presence,  and  zeal  for  his  glory,  to  run  through  your 
acts  of  worship,  your  hours  of  business  and  recreation ; 
suppose  this  attention  to  Providence,  this  guard 
against  temptation,  this  dependence  upon  divine  in- 
fluence, this  government  of  the  thoughts  in  solitude, 
and  of  the  discourse  in  company ;  nay,  I  will  add 
farther,  suppose  every  particular  direction  given  to 
be  pursued,  excepting  when  particular  cases  occur, 
with  respect  to  which  you  shall  be  able  in  conscience 
to  say,  "  I  wave  it  not  from  indolence  and  careless- 
ness, but  because  I  think  it  will  be  just  now  more 
pleasing  to  God  to  be  doing  something  else,"  which 
may  often  happen  in  human  life,  where  general  rules 
are  best  concerted  :  suppose,  I  say,  all  this  to  be  done, 
not  for  a  day  or  a  week,  but  through  the  remainder 
of  life,  whether  longer  or  shorter ;  and  suppose  this 
to  be  reviewed  at  the  close  of  life,  in  the  full  exercise 
of  your  rational  faculties  ;  will  there  be  reason  to  say, 


292  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

in  the  reflection,  "  I  have  taken  too  much  pains  in 
religion  ;  the  Author  of  my  being  did  not  deserve  all 
this  from  me ;  less  diligence,  less  fidelity,  less  zeal 
than  this,  might  have  been  an  equivalent  for  the 
blood  which  was  shed  for  my  redemption  ?  A  part 
of  my  heart,  a  part  of  my  time,  a  part  of  my  labors, 
might  have  sufficed  for  him  who  hath  given  me  all 
my  powers — for  him  who  hath  delivered  me  from 
that  destruction  which  would  have  made  them  my 
everlasting  torment — for  him  who  is  raising  me  to 
the  regions  of  a  blissful  immortality."  Can  you  with 
any  face  say  this  ?  If  you  cannot,  then  surely  your 
conscience  bears  witness,  that  all  I  have  recommend- 
ed, under  the  limitations  above,  is  reasonable  ;  that 
duty  and  gratitude  require  it ;  and  consequently,  that 
by  every  allowed  failure  in  it,  you  bring  guilt  upon 
your  own  soul,  you  offend  God,  and  act  unworthy  of 
your  Christian  profession. 

4.  I  entreat  you  farther  to  consider  whether  such 
a  conduct  as  I  have  now  been  recommending,  would 
not  conduce  much  to  your  comfort  and  usefulness  in 
life.  Reflect  seriously  what  is  true  happiness.  Does 
it  consist  in  distance  from  God,  or  in  nearness  to  him  ? 
Surely  you  cannot  be  a  Christian,  surely  you  cannot 
be  a  rational  man,  if  you  doubt  whether  communion 
with  the  great  Father  of  our  spirits  be  a  pleasure 
and  felicity ;  and  if  it  be,  then  surely  they  enjoy  most 
of  it  who  keep  him  most  constantly  in  view.  You 


DEVOTION  TO  GOD   URGED.  293 

cannot  but  know,  in  your  own  conscience,  that  it  is 
this  which  makes  the  happiness  of  heaven ;  and  there- 
fore the  more  of  it  any  man  enjoys  upon  earth,  the 
more  of  heaven  comes  down  into  his  soul.  If  you 
have  made  any  trial  of  religion,  though  it  be  but  a 
few  months  or  weeks  since  you  first  became  acquaint- 
ed with  it,  you  must  be  some  judge,  from  your  own 
experience,  which  have  been  the  most  pleasant  days 
of  your  life.  Have  they  not  been  those  in  which 
you  have  acted  most  upon  these  principles  ;  those  in 
which  you  have  most  steadily  and  resolutely  carried 
them  through  every  hour  of  time,  and  every  circum- 
stance of  life  ?  The  check  which  you  must,  in  many 
instances,  give  to  your  own  inclinations,  might  seem 
disagreeable;  but  it  would  surely  be  overbalanced, 
in  a  most  happy  manner,  by  the  satisfaction  you 
would  find  in  a  consciousness  of  self-government ;  in 
having  such  a  command  of  your  thoughts,  affections, 
and  actions,  as  is  much  more  glorious  than  any  au- 
thority over  others  can  be. 

5.  I  would  also  entreat  you  to  consider  the  influ- 
ence which  such  a  conduct  as  this  might  have  upon 
the  happiness  of  others.  And  it  is  easy  to  be  seen 
that  it  must  be  very  great ;  as  you  would  find  your 
heart  always  disposed  to  watch  every  opportunity  of 
doing  good,  and  to  seize  it  with  eagerness  and  delight. 
It  would  engage  you  to  make  it  the  study  and  busi- 
ness of  your  life,  to  order  things  in  such  a  manner, 


294  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

that  the  end  of  one  kind  and  useful  action  might  be 
the  beginning  of  another ;  in  which  you  would  go  on 
as  naturally  as  the  inferior  animals  do  in  those  pro- 
ductions and  actions  by  which  mankind  are  relieved 
or  enriched ;  or  as  the  earth  bears  her  successive  crops 
of  different  vegetable  supplies.  And  though  man- 
kind be,  in  this  corrupt  state,  so  unhappily  inclined 
to  imitate  evil  examples  rather  than  good,  yet  it  -may 
be  expected,  that  while  "your  light  shines  before 
men,"  some,  "  seeing  your  good  works,"  will  endeavor 
to  transcribe  them  in  their  own  lives,  and  so  to  "glo- 
rify your  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  Matt.  5:16. 
The  charm  of  such  beautiful  models  would  surely 
impress  some,  and  incline  them  at  least  to  attempt 
an  imitation;  and  every  attempt  would  dispose  to 
another.  And  thus,  through  the  divine  goodness, 
you  might  be  entitled  to  a  share  in  the  praise,  and 
the  reward,  not  only  of  the  good  you  had  immediately 
done  yourself,  t)ut  likewise  of  that  which  you  had 
engaged  others  to  do.  And  no  eye  but  that  of  the 
all-searching  God  can  see  into  what  distant  times  or 
places  the  blessed  consequences  may  reach.  In  every 
instance  in  which  these  consequences  appear,  it  will 
put  a  generous  and  sublime  joy  into  your  heart  which 
no  worldly  prosperity  could  afford,  and  which  would 
be  the  liveliest  emblem  of  that  high  delight  which 
the  blessed  God  feels  in  seeing  and  making  his  crea- 
tures happy. 


DEVOTION  TO  GOD  URGED.  295 

6.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  amidst  all  these  pious  and 
benevolent  cares,  afflictions  may  come,  and  in  some 
measure  interrupt  you  in  the  rnidst  of  your  projected 
schemes.     But  surely  these  afflictions  will  be  much 
lighter,  when  your  heart  is  gladdened  with  the  peace- 
ful and  joyful  reflections  of  your  own  mind,  and  with 
so  honorable  a  testimony  of  conscience  before  God  and 
man.    Delightful  will  it  be  to  go  back  to  past  scenes 
in  your  pleasing  review,  and  to  think  that  you  have 
not  only  been  sincerely  humbling  yourself  for  those  past 
offences  which  afflictions  may  bring  to  your  remem- 
brance, but  that  you  have  given  substantial  proofs  of 
the  sincerity  of  that  humiliation,  by  a  real  reformation 
of  what  has  been  amiss,  and  by  acting  with  strenu- 
ous and  vigorous  resolution  on  the  contrary  principle. 
And  while  converse  with  God,  and  doing  good  to  men, 
are  made  the  great  business  and  pleasure  of  life,  you 
will  find  a  thousand  opportunities  of  enjoyment,  even 
in  the  midst  of  these  afflictions,  which  would  render 
you  so  incapable  of  relishing  the  pleasures  of  sense, 
that  the  very  mention  of  them  might,  in  those  cir- 
cumstances, seem  an  insult  and  a  reproach. 

7.  At  length  death  will  come,  that  solemn  and  im- 
portant hour,  which  has  been  passed  through  by  so 
many  thousands  who  have  in  the  main  lived  such  a 
life,  and  by  so  many  millions  who  have  neglected  it. 
And  let  conscience  say,  if  there  was  ever  one  of  all 
these  millions  who  had  any  reason  to  rejoice  in  that 


296  R/SE    AND    PROGRESS. 

neglect;  or  any  one,  among  the  most  strict  and  ex- 
emplary Christians,  who  then  lamented  that  his  heart 
and  life  had  been  too  zealously  devoted  to  God.  Let 
conscience  say,  whether  they  have  wished  to  have 
a  part  of  that  time,  which  they  have  thus  employed, 
given  back  to  them  again,  that  they  might  be  more 
conformed  to  this  world;  that  they  might  plunge 
themselves  deeper  into  its  amusements,  or  pursue  its 
honors,  its  possessions,  or  its  pleasures,  with  greater 
eagerness  than  they  had  done.  If  you  were  yourself 
dying,  and  a  dear  friend  or  child  stood  near  you,  and 
this  book  and  the  preceding  chapter  should  chance 
to  come  into  your  thoughts,  would  you  caution  that 
friend  or  child  against  conducting  himself  by  such 
rules  as  I  have  advanced  ?  The  question  may  per- 
haps seem  unnecessary,  where  the  answer  is  so  plain 
and  certain.  Well,  then,  let  me  beseech  you  to  learn 
how  you  should  live,  by  reflecting  how  you  would 
die,  and  what  course  you  would  wish  to  look  back 
upon,  when  you  are  just  quitting  this  world  and  en- 
tering upon  another.  Think  seriously  :  what  if  death 
should  surprise  you  on  a  sudden,  and  you  should  be 
called  into  eternity  at  an  hour's  or  a  minute's  warn- 
ing, would  you  not  wish  that  your  last  day  should 
have  been  thus  begun ;  and  the  course  of  it,  if  it  were 
a  day  of  health  and  activity,  should  have  been  thus 
managed?  Would  you  not  wish  that  your  Lord 
should  find  you  engaged  in  such  thoughts  and  such 


DEVOTION    TO  GOD   URGED.  297 

pursuits?  Would  not  the  passage,  the  flight  from 
earth  to  heaven,  he  most  easy,  most  pleasant,  in  this 
view  and  connection?  And,  on  the  other  hand,  if 
death  should  make  more  gradual  approaches,  would 
not  the  remembrance  of  such  a  pious,  holy,  humble, 
diligent,  and  useful  life,  make  a  dying  bed  much 
softer  and  easier  than  it  would  otherwise  be?  You 
would  not  die,  depending  upon  these  things.  God 
forbid  that  you  should.  Sensible  of  your  many  im- 
perfections, you  would,  no  doubt,  desire  to  throw 
yourself  at  the  feet  of  Christ,  that  you  might  appear 
before  God  "  adorned  with  his  righteousness,  and 
washed  from  your  sins  in  his  blood."  You  would 
also,  with  your  dying  breath,  ascribe  to  the  riches  of 
his  grace  every  good  disposition  you  had  found  in 
your  heart,  and  every  worthy  action  you  had  been 
enabled  to  perform.  But  would  it  not  give  you  a  de- 
light worthy  of  being  purchased  with  ten  thousand 
worlds,  to  reflect  that  his  "grace,  bestowed  on  you, 
had  not  been  in  vain,"  1  Cor.  15:10;  but  that  you 
had,  from  a  humble  principle  of  grateful  love,  glori- 
fied your  heavenly  Father  on  earth,  and,  in  some 
degree,  though  not  with  the  perfection  you  could  de- 
sire, "  finished  the  work  which  he  had  given  you  to 
do,"  John  17:4;  that  you  had  been  living  for  many 
past  years  as  on  the  borders  of  heaven,  and*  endeav- 
oring to  form  your  heart  and  life  to  the  temper  and 
manners  of  its  inhabitants? 


298  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

8.  And  once  more,  let  me  entreat  you  to  reflect  on 
the  view  you  will  have  of  this  matter  when  you 
come  into  a  world  of  glory,  if  (which  I  hope  will  be 
the  happy  case)  divine  mercy  conduct  you  thither. 
Will  not  your  reception  there  be  affected  by  your 
care,  or  negligence,  in  this  holy  course  ?  "Will  it  ap- 
pear an  indifferent  thing  in  the  eye  of  the  blessed 
Jesus,  who  distributes  the  crowns,  and  allots  the 
thrones  there,  whether  you  have  been  among  the 
most  zealous,  or  the  most  indolent  of  his  servants  ? 
Surely  you  must  wish  to  have  "an  entrance  admin- 
istered unto  you  abundantly  into  the  kingdom  of  your 
Lord  and  Saviour,"  2  Pet.  1:11;  and  what  can  more 
certainly  conduce  to  it,  than  to  be  "  always  abound- 
ing in  this  work?"  1  Cor.  15  :  58.  You  cannot 
think  so  meanly  of  that  glorious  state,  as  to  imagine 
that  you  shall  there  look  round  about  with  a  secret 
disappointment,  and  say  in  your  heart  that  you  over- 
valued the  inheritance  you  have  received,  and  pursued 
it  with  too  much  earnestness.  You  will  not  surely 
complain  that  it  had  too  many  of  your  thoughts  and 
cares;  but,  on  the  contrary,  you  have  the  highest 
reason  to  believe,  that,  if  any  thing  were  capable 
of  exciting  your  indignation  and  your  grief  there,  it 
would  be,  that  amidst  so  many  motives  and  so  many 
advantages,  you  exerted  yourself  no  more  in  the 
prosecution  of  such  a  prize. 

9,  But  I  will  not  enlarge  on  so  clear  a  case,  and 


DEVOTION  TO  GOD  uGED.  299 

therefore  conclude  the  chapter  with  reminding  you, 
that  to  allow  yourself  deliberately  to  sit  down  satis- 
fied with  any  imperfect  attainments  in  religion,  and 
to  look  upon  a  more  confirmed  and  improved  state  of 
it  as  what  you  do  not  desire,  nay,  as  what  you  sin- 
cerely resolve  that  you  will  not  pursue,  is  one  of  the 
most  fatal  signs  we  can  well  imagine,  that  you  are 
an  entire  stranger  to  the  first  principles  of  it. 

A  PRAYER  SUITED  TO  THE  STATE  OF  A  SOUL  WHO  DE- 
SIRES TO  ATTAIN  THE  LIFE  ABOVE  RECOMMENDED. 

"Blessed  God,  I  cannot  contradict  the  force  of 
these  reasonings :  0  that  I  may  feel  more  than  ever 
the  lasting  effects  of  them.  Thou  art  the  great  foun- 
tain of  being  and  of  happiness ;  and  as  from  thee 
my  being  was  derived,  so  from  thee  my  happiness 
directly  flows ;  and  the  nearer  I  am  to  thee,  the  purer 
and  more  delicious  is  the  stream.  'With  thee  is  the 
fountain  of  life;  in  thy  light  may  I  see  light.'  Psa. 
36:9.  The  great  object  of  my  final  hope  is  to  dwell 
for  ever  with  thee.  Give  me  now  some  foretaste  of 
that  delight.  Give  me,  I  beseech  thee,  to  experience 
'the  blessedness  of  that  man  who  feareth  the  Lord, 
and  who  delighteth  greatly  in  his  commandments,' 
Psa.  112:1,  and  so  form  my  heart  by  thy  grace,  that 
I  may  'be  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  all  the  day  long.' 
Prov.  23  :  17. 

"  To  thee  may  my  awakening  thoughts  be  di- 


300  RISE    AND    PROGRESS 

reeled ;  and  with  the  first  ray  of  light  that  visits  my 
opening  eyes,  '  lift  up,  0  Lord,  the  light  of  thy  coun- 
tenance upon  me.'  Psa.  4  :  6.  When  my  faculties 
are  roused  from  that  broken  state  in  which  they  lay 
while  buried,  and,  as  it  were,  annihilated  in  sleep, 
may  my  first  actions  be  consecrated  to  thee,  0  God, 
who  givest  me  light;  who  givest  me,  as  it  were, 
every  morning  a  new  life  and  a  new  reason.  Enable 
my  heart  to  pour  out  itself  before  thee  with  a  filial 
reverence,  freedom,  and  endearment.  And  may  I 
hearken  to  God,  as  I  desire  that  he  should  hearken 
unto  me.  May  thy  word  be  read  with  attention  and 
pleasure.  May  my  soul  be  delivered  into  the  mould 
of  it,  and  may  I  *  hide  it  in  my  heart,  that  I  may  not 
sin  against  thee.'  Psa.  119:11.  Animated  by  the 
great  motives  there  suggested,  may  I  every  morning 
be  renewing  the  dedication  of  myself  to  thee,  through 
Jesus  Christ  thy  beloved  Son ;  and  be  deriving  from 
him  new  supplies  of  that  blessed  Spirit  of  thine, 
whose  influences  are  the  life  of  my  soul. 

"  And  being  thus  prepared,  do  thou,  Lord,  lead  me 
forth  by  the  hand  to  all  the  duties  and  events  of  the 
day.  In  that  calling  wherein  thou  hast  been  pleased 
to  call  me,  may  I  abide  with  thee,  1  Cor.  7  :  20,  not 
1  being  slothful  in  business,'  but  '  fervent  in  spirit, 
serving  the  Lord.'  Rom.  12  : 11.  May  I  know  the 
value  of  time,  and  always  improve  it  to  the  best  ad- 
vantage, in  such  duties  as  thou  hast  assigned  me, 


DEVOTION   TO   GOD   URGED.  301 

how  low  soever  they  may  seem,  or  how  painful  so- 
ever they  may  be.  To  thy  glory,  0  Lord,  may  the 
lahors  of  life  be  pursued ;  and  to  thy  glory  may  the 
refreshments  of  it  be  sought.  *  "Whether  I  eat,  or 
drink,  or  whatever  I  do,'  1  Cor.  10  :  31,  may  that 
end  still  be  kept  in  view,  and  may  it  be  attained. 
And  may  every  refreshment,  and  release  from  busi- 
ness, prepare  me  to  serve  thee  with  greater  vigor 
and  resolution. 

"  May  my  eye  be  watchful  to  observe  the  descent 
of  mercies  from  thee ;  and  may  a  grateful  sense  of 
thy  hand  in  them  add  a  savor  and  relish  to  all. 
And  when  afflictions  come,  which  in  a  world  like 
this  I  would  accustom  myself  to  expect,  may  I  re- 
member that  they  come  from  thee ;  and  may  that 
fully  reconcile  me  to  them,  while  I  firmly  believe 
that  the  same  love  which  gives  us  our  daily  bread, 
appoints  us  our  daily  crosses,  which  I  would  learn 
to  take  up,  that  I  may  follow  my  dear  Lord,  Mark 
8  :  34,  with  a  temper  like  that  which  he  manifested 
when  ascending  Calvary  for  my  sake  ;  saying,  like 
him,  '  The  cup  which  my  Father  hath  given  me, 
shall  I  not  drink  it?'  John  18  :  11.  And  when  I 
*  enter  into  temptation,'  do  thou,  Lord,  'deliver  me 
from  evil.'  Matt.  6  :  13.  Make  me  sensible,  I  en- 
treat thee,  of  my  own  weakness,  that  my  heart  may 
be  raised  to  thee  for  present  communications  of  pro- 
portionable strength.  When  I  am  engaged  in  the 


302  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

society  of  others,  may  it  be  my  desire  and  my  care 
that  I  may  do  and  receive  as  much  good  as  possible  ; 
and  may  I  continually  answer  the  great  purposes  of 
life,  by  honoring  thee,  and  diffusing  useful  know- 
ledge and  happiness  in  the  world.  And  when  I  arn 
alone,  may  I  remember  my  '  heavenly  Father  is  with 
me  ;'  and  may  I  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  thy  presence, 
and  feel  the  animating  power  of  it  awakening  my 
soul  to  an  earnest  desire  to  think  and  act  as  in  thy 
sight. 

"  Thus  let  my  days  be  spent ;  and  let  them  always 
be  closed  in  thy  fear,  and  under  a  sense  of  thy  gra- 
cious presence.  Meet  me,  0  Lord,  in  my  evening 
retirements.  May  I  choose  the  most  proper  time  for 
them  ;  may  I  diligently  attend  to  reading  and  prayer ; 
and  when  I  review  my  conduct,  may  I  do  it  with  an 
impartial  eye.  Let  not  self-love  spread  a  false  color- 
ing over  it ;  but  may  I  judge  myself  as  one  that  ex- 
pects to  be  judged  of  the  Lord,  and  is  very  solicitous 
he  may  be  approved  by  thee,  who  '  searchest  all 
hearts,'  and  '  canst  not  forget  any  of  my  works.' 
Amos  8:7.  '  Let  my  prayer  come  before  thee  as 
incense,'  and  '  let  the  lifting  up  of  my  hands  be  as 
the  morning  and  the  evening  sacrifice.'  Psa.  141 : 2. 
May  I  resign  my  powers  to  sleep  in  sweet  calmness 
and  serenity ;  conscious  that  I  have  lived  to  God  in 
the  day,  and  cheerfully  persuaded  that  I  am  'ac- 
cepted of  thee  in  Christ  Jesus  my  Lord,'  and  humbly 


DEVOTION  TO  GOD  URGED  303 

t  hoping  in  thy  mercy  through  him,'  whether  my 
days  on  earth  be  prolonged,  or  '  the  residue  of  them 
be  cut  off  in  the  midst.'  Isaiah  38  :  10.  If  death 
comes  by  a  leisurely  advance,  may  it  find  me  thus 
employed ;  and  if  I  am  called  on  a  sudden  to  ex- 
change worlds,  may  my  last  days  and  hours  be  found 
to  have  been  conducted  by  such  maxims  as  these  ; 
that  I  may  have  a  sweet  and 'easy  passage  from  the 
services  of  time  to  the  infinitely  nobler  services  of  an 
immortal  state.  I  ask  it  through  Him  who,  while 
on  earth,  was  the  fairest  pattern  and  example  of 
every  virtue  and  grace,  and  who  now  lives  and 
reigns  with  thee,  '  able  to  save  unto  the  uttermost.'. 
Heb.  7  :  25.  To  him,  having  done  all,  I  would  fly, 
with  humble  acknowledgment  that  I  am  an  'un- 
profitable servant,'  Luke  17  :  10  :  'to  him  be  glory 
for  ever  arid  ever.'  Amen." 


304  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

A  CAUTION  AGAINST  VARIOUS  TEMPTATIONS,  BY  WHICH 
THE  YOUNG  CONVERT  MAY  BE  DRAWN  ASIDE  FROM 
THE  COURSE  RECOMMENDED  ABOVE. 

1.  Dangers  continue  after  the  first  difficulties  (considered 
chap,  xvi.)  are  broken  through. — 2.  Particular  cautions — 
Against  a  sluggish  and  indolent  temper. — 3.  Against  the  exces- 
sive love  of  sensitive  pleasure. — 4.  Leading  to  a  neglect  of 
business  and  needless  expense. — 5.  Against  the  snares  of  evil 
company. — 6.  Against  excessive  hurry  of  worldly  business. — 
7.  Which  is  enforced  by  the  fatal  consequences  these  have  had 
in  many  cases. — 8.  The  chapter  concludes  with  an  exhortation 
to  die  to  this  world,  and  to  live  to  another.  And  the  young 
convert's  prayer  for  divine  protection  against  the  dangers  aris- 
ing from  these  snares. 

1 .  THE  representation  I  have  been  making  of  the 
pleasure  and  advantage  of  a  life  spent  in  devotedness 
to  God  and  communion  with  him,  as  I  have  de- 
scribed it  above,  will,  I  hope,  engage  you,  my  dear 
reader,  to  form  some  purposes,  and  make  some  at- 
tempt to  obtain  it.  But  from  considering  the  nature, 
and  observing  the  course  of  things,  it  appears  exceed- 
ingly evident,  that  besides  the  general  opposition 
which  I  formerly  mentioned  as  like  to  attend  you  in 
your  first  entrance  on  a  religious  life,  you  will  find, 
even  after  you  have  resolutely  broke  through  this, 
that  a  variety  of  hinderances  in  any  attempts  of  ex- 


TEMPTATIONS  TO  BE  RESISTED.  305 

emplaiy  piety,  and  in  the  prosecution  of  a  remark- 
ably strict  and  edifying  course,  will  present  them- 
selves daily  in  your  path  ;  and  whereas  you  may,  by 
a  few  resolute  efforts,  baffle  some  of  the  former  sort 
of  enemies,  these  will  be  perpetually  renewing  their 
onsets,  and  a  vigorous  struggle  must  be  continually 
maintained  with  them.  Give  me  leave  now,  there- 
fore, to  be  particular  in  my  cautions  against  some  of 
the  chief  of  them.  And  here  I  would  insist  upon 
the  difficulties  which  will  arise  from  indolence  and 
the  love  of  pleasure,  from  vain  company  and  worldly 
cares.  Each  of  these  may  prove  ensnaring  to  any, 
and  especially  to  young  persons,  to  whom  I  would 
now  have  some  particular  regard. 

2.  I  entreat  you,  therefore,  in  the  first  place,  that 
you  will  guard  against  a  sluggish  and  indolent  tem- 
per. The  love  of  ease  insinuates  itself  into  the  heart 
under  a  variety  of  plausible  pretences,  which  are 
often  allowed  to  pass,  when  temptations  of  a  grosser 
nature  would  not  be  admitted.  The  misspending  a 
little  time  seems  to  wise  and  good  men  but  a  small 
matter ;  yet  this  sometimes  runs  them  into  great  in- 
conveniences. It  often  leads  them  to  break  in  upon 
the  seasons  regularly  allotted  to  devotion,  and  to  de- 
fer business  which  might  immediately  be  done,  but 
being  put  off  from  day  to  day,  is  not  done  at  all,  and 
thereby  the  services  of  life  are  at  least  diminished, 
and  the  rewards  of  eternity  diminished  proportiona- 
te and  Prog.  20 


306  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

bly — not  to  insist  upon  it,  that  very  frequently  this 
lays  the  soul  open  to  farther  temptations,  by  which 
it  falls,  in  consequence  of  being  found  unemployed. 
Be  therefore  suspicious  of  the  first  approaches  of  this 
kind.  Remember,  that  the  soul  of  man  is  an  active 
being,  and  that  it  must  find  its  pleasure  in  activity. 
"  Gird  up,"  therefore,  "  the  loins  of  your  mind."  1 
Pet.  1  :  13.  Endeavor  to  keep  yourself  always  wel] 
employed.  Be  exact,  if  I  may  with  humble  rever- 
ence use  the  expression,  in  your  appointments  with 
God.  Meet  him  early  in  the  morning ;  and  say  not 
with  the  sluggard,  when  the  proper  hour  of  rising  is 
come,  A  little  more  sleep,  a  little  more  slumber. 
Prov.  6  :  10.  That  time  which  prudence  shall  ad- 
vise you,  give  to  conversation  and  to  other  recrea- 
tions. But  when  that  is  elapsed,  and  no  unforeseen 
and  important  engagement  prevents,  rise  and  begone. 
Gluit  the  company  of  your  dearest  friends,  and  retire 
to  your  proper  business,  whether  it  be  in  the  field, 
the  shop,  or  the  closet.  For  by  acting  contrary  to 
the  secret  dictates  of  your  mind  as  to  what  it  is  just 
at  the  present  moment  best  to  do,  though  it  be  but 
in  the  manner  of  spending  half  an  hour,  some  degree 
of  guilt  is  contracted,  and  a  habit  is  cherished,  which 
may  draw  after  it  much  worse  consequences.  Con- 
sider, therefore,  wrhat  duties  are  to  be  despatched, 
and  in  what  seasons.  Form  your  plan  as  prudently 
as. you  can,  and  pursue  it  resolutely,  unless  an  unex- 


TEMPTATIONS  TO    BE   RESISTED.  307 

pec  ted  incident  arises,  which,  leads  you  to  conclude 
that  duty  calls  you  another  way.  Allowances  for 
such  unthought-of  interruptions  must  be  made  ;  but 
if,  in  consequence  of  this,  you  are  obliged  to  omit  any 
thing  of  importance  which  you  proposed  to  have 
done  to-day,  do  it  if  possible  to-morrow ;  and  do  not 
cut  yourself  out  new  work  till  the  former  plan  be 
despatched,  unless  you  really  judge  it  not  merely 
more  amusing,  but  more  important.  And  always 
remember,  that  a  servant  of  Christ  should  see  to  it 
that  he  determine  on  these  occasions  as  in  his  Mas- 
ter's presence. 

3.  Guard  also  against  an  excessive  love  of  sensi- 
tive and  animal  pleasure,  as  that  which  will  be  a 
great  hinderance  to  you  in  that  religious  course  which 
I  have  now  been  urging.  You  cannot  but  know 
that  Christ  has  told  us,  that  "  a  man  must  deny 
himself,  and  take  up  his  cross  daily,"  Luke  9  :  23, 
if  he  desire  to  become  his  disciple.  Christ  the 
Son  of  God,  the  maker  and  the  heir  of  all  things, 
"pleased  not  himself,"  Rom.  15  :  3,  but  submitted  to 
want,  to  difficulties,  and  hardships,  in  the  way  of 
duty,  and  some  of  them  of  the  extremest  kind  and 
degree,  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of 
men.  In  this  way  we  are  to  follow  him  ;  and  as 
we  know  not  how  soon  we  may  be  called,  even  to 
"  resist  unto  blood,  striving  against  sin,"  Heb.  12:4, 
it  is  certainly  best  to  accustom  ourselves  to  that  dis- 


308  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

oipline  which  we  may  possibly  be  called  out  to  exer- 
cise, even  in  such  rigorous  heights.  A  soft  arid  deli- 
cate life  will  give  force  to  temptations,  which  might 
easily  be  subdued  by  one  who  has  habituated  him- 
self to  "  endure  hardships  as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus 
Christ."  2  Tim.  2:3.  It  also  produces  an  attach- 
ment to  this  world,  and  an  unwillingness  to  leave  it, 
which  ill  becomes  those  who  are  strangers  and  pil- 
grims on  earth,  and  who  expect  so  soon  to  be  called 
away  to  that  better  country  which  they  "  profess  to 
seek."  Heb.  11  :  13,  16.  Add  to  this,  that  what 
the  world  calls  a  life  of  pleasure,  is  necessarily  a  life 
of  expense  too,  and  may  perhaps  lead  you,  as  it  has 
many  others,  and  especially  many  who  have  been 
setting  out  in  the  world,  beyond  the  limits  which 
Providence  has  assigned ;  and  so,  after  a  course  of 
indulgence,  may  produce  a  proportionable  want. 
And  while  in  other  cases  it  is  true  that  pity  should 
be  shown  to  the  poor,  this  is  a  poverty  that  is  justly 
contemptible,  because  it  is  the  effect  of  a  man's  own 
folly;  and  when  your  "want  thus  comes  upon  you 
as  an  armed  man,"  Prov.  6:11,  you  will  not  only 
find  yourself  stripped  of  the  capacity  you  might 
otherwise  have  secured  for  performing  those  works 
of  charity  which  are  so  ornamental  to  a  Christian 
profession,  but  probably  will  be  under  strong  tempta- 
tions to  some  low  artifice  or  mean  compliance,  quite 
beneath  the  Christian  character  and  that  of  an  up- 


TEMPTATIONS  TO  BE  RESISTED.  309 

right  man.  Many,  who  once  made  a  high  profession, 
after  a  series  of  such  sorry  and  scandalous  shifts, 
have  fallen  into  the  infamy  of  the  worst  kind  of 
bankrupts;  I  mean  such  as  have  lavished  away  on 
themselves  what  was  indeed  the  property  of  others, 
and  so  have  injured,  and  perhaps  ruined  the  indus- 
trious, to  feed  a  foolish,  luxurious,  or  ostentatious 
humor,  which,  while  indulged,  was  the  shame  of 
their  own  families,  and  when  it  can  be  indulged  no 
longer,  is  their  torment.  This  will  be  a  terrible 
reproach  to  religion ;  such  a  reproach  to  it,  that  a 
good  man  would  rather  choose  to  live  on  bread  and 
water,  or  indeed  to  die  for  want  of  them,  than  to 
occasion  it. 

4.  Guard,  therefore,  I  beseech  you,  against  any 
thing  which  might  tend  that  way,  especially  by  dili- 
gence in  business,  and  by  prudence  and  frugality  in 
expense,  which,  by  the  divine  blessing,  may  have  a 
very  happy  influence  to  make  your  affairs  prosperous, 
your  health  vigorous,  and  your  mind  easy.  But  this 
cannot  be  attained  without  keeping  a  resolute  watch 
over  yourself,  and  strenuously  refusing  to  comply 
with  many  proposals  which  indolence  or  sensuality 
will  offer  in  very  plausible  forms,  and  for  which  it 
will  plead,  "  that  it  asks  but  very  little."  Take  heed, 
lest  in  this  respect  you  imitate  those  fond  parents, 
who,  by  indulging  their  children  in  every  little  thing 
they  have  a  mind  to,  encourage  them,  by  insensible 


310  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

degrees,  to  grow  still  more  encroaching  and  imperi- 
ous in  their  demands — as  if  they  chose  to  be  ruined 
with  them,  rather  than  to  check  them  in  what  seems 
a  trifle.  Remember  and  consider  that  excellent  re- 
mark, sealed  by  the  ruin  of  so  many  thousands  :  "He 
that  despiseth  small  things,  shall  fall  by  little  and 
little." 

5.  In  this  view,  give  me  leave  also  seriously  and 
tenderly  to  caution  you,  my  dear  reader,  against  the 
snares  of  vain  company.  I  speak  not,  as  before,  of 
that  company  which  is  openly  licentious  and  profane 
I  hope  there  is  something  now  in  your  temper  and 
views,  which  would  engage  you  to  turn  away  from 
such  with  detestation  and  horror.  But  I  beseech 
you  to  consider,  that  those  companions  may  be  very 
dangerous,  who  might  at  first  give  you  but  very 
little  alarm  :  I  mean  those  who,  though  not  the  de- 
clared enemies  of  religion,  and  professed  followers  of 
vice  and  disorder,  yet  nevertheless  have  no  practical 
sense  of  divine  things  on  their  hearts,  so  far  as  can 
be  judged  by  their  conversation  and  behavior.  You 
must  often  of  necessity  be  with  such  persons ;  and 
1  Christianity  not  only  allows,  'but  requires,  that  you 
should,  on  all  expedient  occasions  of  intercourse  with 
them,  treat  them  with  civility  and  respect ;  but 
choose  not  such  for  your  most  intimate  friends,  and 
do  not  contrive  to  spend  most  of  your  leisure  mo- 
ments among  them.  For  such  converse  has  a  sen- 


TEMPTATIONS  TO  BE  RESISTED.  3H 

sible  tendency  to  alienate  the  soul  from  God,  and  to 
render  it  unfit  for  all  spiritual  communion  with  him. 
To  convince  you  of  this,  do  but  reflect  on  your  own 
experience,  when  you  have  been  for  many  hours 
together  among  persons  of  such  a  character.  Do 
you  not  find  yourself  more  indisposed  for  devotional 
exercises  ?  Do  you  not  find  your  heart,  by  insensible 
degrees,  more  and  more  inclined  to  a  conformity  to 
this  world,  and  to  look  with  a  secret  disrelish  on 
those  objects  and  employments  to  which  reason  di- 
rects as  the  noblest  and  best  ?  Observe  the  first 
symptoms,  and  guard  against  the  snare  in  time  ;  and 
for  this  purpose,  endeavor  to  form  friendships  founded 
in  piety,  and  supported  by  it.  "  Be  a  companion  of 
them  that  fear  God,  and  of  them  that  keep  his  pre- 
cepts." Psalm  119  :  63.  You  well  know,  that  in 
the  sight  of  God  "  they  are  the  excellent  of  the 
earth;"  let  them  therefore  "be  all  your  delight." 
Psalm  16  :  3.  And  that  the  peculiar  benefit  of  their 
friendship  may  not  be  lost,  endeavor  to  make  the  best 
of  the  hours  you  spend  with  them.  The  wisest  of 
men  has  observed,  that  when  "counsel  in  the  heart 
of  a  man  is  like  deep  waters,"  that  is,  when  it  lies 
low  and  concealed,  "  a  man  of  understanding  will 
draw  it  out."  Prov.  20  :  5.  Endeavor,  therefore, 
on  such  occasions,  so  far  as  you  can  dp  it  with  de- 
cency and  convenience,  to  give  the  conversation  a 
religious  turn.  And  when  serious  and  useful  sub- 


312  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

jects  are  started  in  your  presence,  lay  hold  of  them, 
and  cultivate  them ;  and  for  that  purpose  "  let  the 
word  of  Christ  dwell  richly  in  you,"  Col.  3  :  16,  and 
be  continually  made  "  the  man  of  your  counsel." 
Psalm  119  :24, 

6.  If  it  be  so,  it  will  secure  you  not  only  from  the 
snares  of  idleness  and  luxury,  but  from  the  contagion 
of  every  bad  example.  And  it  will  also  engage  you 
to  guard  against  those  excessive  hurries  of  worldly 
business,  which  would  fill  up  all  your  time  and 
thoughts,  and  thereby  "  choke  the  good  word "  of 
God,  and  render  it  in  a  great  measure,  if  not  quite, 
unfruitful.  Matt.  13  :  22.  Young  people  are  gen- 
erally of  an  enterprising  disposition  :  having  experi- 
enced comparatively  little  of  the  fatigue  of  business, 
arid  of  the  disappointments  and  incumbrances  of  life, 
they  easily  swallow  them  up  and  annihilate  them  in 
their  imagination,  and  fancy  that  their  spirit,  their 
application,  and  address,  will  be  able  to  encounter 
and  surmount  every  obstacle  or  hinderance.  But 
the  event  proves  it  otherwise.  Let  rne  entreat  you, 
therefore,  to  be  cautious  how  you  plunge  yourself  into 
a  greater  variety  of  business  than  you  are  capable  of 
managing  as  you,  ought,  that  is,  in  consistency  with 
the  care  of  your  soul  and  the  service  of  God,  which 
certainly  ought  not  on  any  pretence  to  be  neglected. 
It  is  true,  indeed,  that  a  prudent  regard  to  your 
worldly  interest  would  require  such  a  caution :  as  it 


TEMPTATIONS  TO   BE   RESISTED.  313 

is  obvious  to  every  careful  observer,  that  multitudes 
are  undone  by  grasping  at  more  than  they  can  con- 
veniently manage.  Hence  it  has  frequently  been 
seen,  that  while  they  have  seemed  resolved  to  be 
rich,  they  have  "  pierced  themselves  through  with 
many  sorrows,"  I'Tim.  6  :  10,  have  ruined  their  own 
families,  and  drawn  down  many  others  into  desola- 
tion with  them.  Whereas,  could  they  have  been 
contented  with  moderate  employments  and  moderate 
gains,  they  might  have  prospered  in  their  business, 
and  might,  by  sure  degrees,  under  a  divine  blessing, 
have  advanced  to  great  and  honorable  increase.  But 
if  there  were  no  danger  at  all  to  be  apprehended  on 
this  head,  if  you  were  as  certain  of  becoming  rich 
and  great  as  you  are  of  perplexing  and  fatiguing 
yourself  in  the  attempt,  consider,  I  beseech  you, 
how  precarious  these  enjoyments  are.  Consider  how 
often  "  a  plentiful  table  becomes  a  snare,  and  that 
which  should  have  been  for  a  man's  welfare,  be- 
comes a  trap."  Psalm  69  :  22.  Forget  not  that 
short  lesson,  which  is  so  comprehensive  of  the  high- 
est wisdom  :  "  One  thing  is  needful."  Luke  10  : 42. 
Be  daily  thinking,  while  the  gay  and  the  great  things 
of  life  are  glittering  before  your  eyes,  how  soon  death 
will  come,  and  impoverish  you  at  once — how  soon 
it  will  strip  you  of  all  possessions  but  those  which  a 
naked  soul  can  carry  along  with  it  into  eternity, 
when  it  drops  the  body  into  the  grave.  ETERNITY, 


'314  RISE    AND  PROGRESS. 

ETERNITY,  ETERNITY  !  Carry  the  view  of  it  about 
with  you,  if  it  be  possible,  through  every  hour  of 
waking  life ;  and  be  fully  persuaded  that  you  have 
no  business,  no  interest  in  life,  that  is  inconsistent 
with  it;  for  whatsoever  would  be  injurious  in  view 
of  eternity,  is  not  your  business,  is  not  your  interest. 
You  see,  indeed,  that  the  generality  of  men  act  as  if 
they  thought  the  great  thing  which  God  requires  of 
them,  in  order  to  secure  his  favor,  was  to  get  as 
much  of  the  world  as  possible — at  least  as  much  as 
they  can  without  any  gross  immorality,  and  without 
risking  the  loss  of  all.  Such  persons  may  tell  others, 
and  perhaps  flatter  themselves,  that  they  only  seek 
opportunities  of  greater  usefulness.  But  in  effect,  if 
they  mean  any  thing  more  by  this  than  a  capacity 
of  usefulness,  which,  when  they  have  it,  they  will 
not  exert,  they  generally  deceive  themselves ;  and, 
one  way  or  another,  it  is  a  vain  pretence.  In  most 
instances  men  seek  the  world — either  that  they  may 
hoard  up  riches  for  the  mean  and  scandalous  satis- 
faction of  looking  upon  them  while  they  are  living, 
and  of  thinking,  that  when  they  are  dead  it  will  be 
said  of  them,  that  they  have  left  so  many  hundreds 
or  thousands  of  pounds  behind  them  ;  very  probably 
to  ensnare  their  children,  or  their  heirs— for  the  van- 
ity is  not  peculiar  to  those  who  have  children  of 
their  own — or  else,  that  they  may  lavish  away  their 
riches  on  their  lusts,  and  drown  themselves  in  a  gulf 


TEMPTATIONS  TO  BE  RESISTED.  315 

of  sensuality,  in  which,  if  reason  be  not  lost,  religion 
is  soon  swallowed  up,  and  with  it  all  the  noblest 
pleasures  which  can  enter  into  the  heart  of  man. 
In  this  view,  the  generality  of  rich  people  appear  to 
me  objects  of  much  greater  compassion  than  the 
poor ;  especially  as,  when  both  live — which  is  fre- 
quently the  case — without  any  fear  of  God  before 
their  eyes,  the  rich  abuse  the  greater  variety  and 
abundance  of  their  favors,  and  therefore  will  proba- 
bly feel,  in  that  world  of  future  ruin  which  awaits 
impenitent  sinners,  a  more  exquisite  sense  of  their 
misery. 

7.  And  let  me  observe  to  you,  my  dear  reader, 
lest  you  should  think  yourself  secure  from  any  such 
danger,  that  we  have  great  reason  to  apprehend 
there  are  many  now  in  a  very  wretched  state,  who 
once  thought  seriously  of  religion,  when  they  were 
first  setting  out,  in  lower  circumstances  of  life  ;  but 
they  have  since  forsaken  God  for  mammon,  and  are 
now  priding  themselves  in  those  golden  chains,  which, 
in  all  probability,  before  it  be  long,  will  leave  them 
to  remain  in  those  of  darkness.  When,  therefore, 
an  attachment  to  the  world  may  be  followed  with 
such  fatal  consequences,  "  let  not  thine  heart  envy 
sinners,"  Prov.  23  :  17  ;  and  do  not,  out  of  a  desire 
of  gaining  what  they  have,  be  guilty  of  such  folly 
as  to  expose  yourself  to  this  double  danger  of  failing 
in  the  attempt,  or  of  being  undone  by  the  success  of 


316  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

it.  Contract  your  desires  ;  endeavor"  to  be  easy  and 
content  with  a  little  ;  and  if  Providence  call  you  out 
to  act  in  a  larger  sphere,  submit  to  it  in  obedience 
to  Providence,  but  number  it  among  the  trials  of  life, 
which  it  will  require  a  larger  proportion  of  grace 
to  bear  well.  For  be  assured,  that  as  affairs  and 
interests  multiply,  cares  and  duties  will  certainly 
increase,  and  probably  disappointments  and  sorrows 
will  increase  in  an  equal  proportion. 

8.  On  the  whole,  learn,  by  divine  grace,  to  die  to 
the  present  world  ;  to  look  upon  it  as  a  low  state  of 
being,  which  God  never  intended  for  the  final  and 
complete  happiness,  or  the  supreme  care  of  any  one 
of  his  children  :  a  world,  where  something  is  indeed 
to  be  enjoyed,  but  chiefly  from  himself;  where  a 
great  deal  is  to  be  borne  with  patience  and  resigna- 
tion ;  and  where  some  important  duties  are  to  be 
performed,  and  a  course  of  discipline  to  be  passed 
through,  by  which  you  are  to  be  formed  for  a  better 
state,  to  which,  as  a  Christian,  you  are  near,  and  to 
which  God  will  call  you,  perhaps  on  a  sudden,  but 
undoubtedly,  if  you  hold  on  your  way,  in  the  fittest 
time  and  the  most  convenient  manner.  Refer,  there- 
fore, all  this  to  him.  Let  your  .hopes  and  fears,  your 
expectations  and  desires,  with  regard  to  this  world, 
be  kept  as  low  as  possible ;  and  all  your  thoughts 
be  united,  as  much  as  may  be,  in  this  one  centre  : 
What  is  it  that  God  would,  in  present  circumstances, 


PRAYER  AGAINST  TEMPTATION.  317 

have  you  to  be  ;  and  what  is  that  method  of  conduct 
by  which  you  may  most  effectually  please  and  glorify 
him. 

THE  YOUNG  CONVERT'S  PRAYER  FOR  DIVINE  PROTECTION 
AGAINST  THE  DANGER  OF  THESE  SNARES. 

l<  Blessed  God,  in  the  midst  of  ten  thousand  snares 
and  dangers,  which  surround  me  from  without  and 
from  within,  permit  me  to  look  up  unto  thee  with 
my  humble  entreaty,  that  thou  wouldst  '  deliver  me 
from  them  that  rise  up  against  me,'  Psalm  59  :  1, 
and  that  *  thine  eyes  may  be  upon  me  for  good.'  Jer. 
24  :  6.  When  sloth  and  indolence  are  ready  to  seize 
me,  awaken  me  from  that  idle  dream,  with  lively 
and  affectionate  views  of  that  invisible  and  eternal 
world  to  which  I  am  tending.  Remind  me  of  what 
infinite  importance  it  is,  that  I  diligently  improve 
those  transient  moments  which  thou  hast  allotted  me 
as  the  time  of  my  preparation  for  it. 

"  When  sinners  entice  me,  may  I  not  consent.  Prov. 
1:10.  May  holy  converse  with  God  give  me  a  dis- 
relish for  the  converse  of  those  who  are  strangers  to 
thee,  and  who  would  separate  my  soul  from  thee. 
May  I  '  honor  them  that  fear  the  Lord,'  Psalm  15:4; 
and  walking  with  such  wise  and  holy  men,  may  I 
find  I  am  daily  advancing  in  wisdom  and  holiness. 
Prov.  13  :  20.  Gluicken  me,  0  Lord,  by  their  means, 
that  by  me  thou  mayest  also  quicken  others.  Make 


318  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

me  the  happy  instrument  of  enkindling  and  animat- 
ing the  flame  of  divine  love  in  their  breasts  ;  and 
may  it  catch  from  heart  to  heart,  and  grow  every 
moment  in  its  progress. 

"  Guard  me,  0  Lord,  from  the  love  of  sensual 
pleasure.  May  I  seriously  remember,  that  '  to  be 
carnally  minded  is  death.'  Rom.  8:6.  May  it  please 
thee,  therefore,  to  purify  and  refine  my  soul  by  the 
influence  of  thine  Holy  Spirit,  that  I  may  always  shun 
unlawful  gratifications  more  solicitously  than  others 
pursue  them  ;  and  that  those  indulgences  of  animal 
nature  which  thou  hast  allowed,  and  which  the  consti- 
tution of  things  renders  necessary,  may  be  soberly  and 
moderately  used.  May  I  still  remember  the  superior 
dignity  of  my  spiritual  and  intelligent  nature,  and 
may  the  pleasures  of  the  man  and  the  Christian  be 
sought  as  my  noblest  happiness.  May  my  soul  rise 
on  the  wings  of  holy  contemplation  to  the  regions  of 
invisible  glory ;  and  may  I  be  endeavoring  to  form 
myself,  under  the  influences  of  divine  grace,  for  the 
entertainments  of  those  angelic  spirits  that  live  in 
thy  presence  in  a  happy  incapacity  of  those  gross 
delights  by  which  spirits  dwelling  in  flesh  are  so 
often  ensnared,  and  in  which  they  so  often  lose  the 
memory  of  their  high  original,  and  of  those  noble 
hopes  which  alone  are  proportionable  to  it. 

"  Give  me,  0  Lord,  to  know  the  station  ia  which 
thou  hast  fixed  me,  and  steadily  to  pursue  the  duties 


PRAYER    AGAINST   TEMPTATION.  3J.9 

of  it.  But  deliver  me  from  those  excessive  cares  of 
this  world,  which  would  so  engross  my  time  and  my 
thoughts,  that  'the  one  thing  needful'  should  be  for- 
gotten. May  my  desires  after  worldly  possessions  be 
moderated,  by  considering  their  uncertain  and  unsat- 
isfying nature  ;  and  while  others  are  laying  up  treas- 
ures on  earth,  may  I  be  'rich  towards  God.'  Luke 
12  :  21.  May  I  never  be  too  busy  to  attend  to  those 
great  affairs  which  lie  between  thee  and  my  soul ; 
never  be  so  engrossed  with  the  concerns  of  time,  as 
to  neglect  the  interests  of  eternity.  May  I  pass 
through  earth  with  my  heart  and  hopes  set  upon 
heaven,  and  feel  the  attractive  influence  stronger  and 
stronger  as  I  approach  still  nearer  and  nearer  to  that 
desirable  centre  ;  till  the  happy  moment  come,  when 
every  earthly  object  shall  disappear  from  my  view, 
and  the  shining  glories  of  the  heavenly  world  shall 
fill  rny  improved  and  strengthened  sight,  which  shall 
then  be  cheered  with  that  which  would  now  over- 
whelm me.  Amen." 


3-0  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

THE  CASE  OF  SPIRITUAL  DECAY  AND  LANGUOR  IN 
RELIGION. 

1.  Declensions  in  religion,  and  relapses  into  sin,  with  their 
sorrowful  consequences,  are  in  the  general  too  probable. — 2. 
The  case  of  declension  and  languor  in  religion  described  nega- 
tively.— 3.  And  positively. — 4.  As  discovering  itself — by  a 
failure  in  the  duties  of  the  closet. — 5.  By  a  neglect  of  social 
worship. — 6.  By  want  of  love  to  our  fellow-Christians. — 7.  By 
an  undue  attachment  to  sensual  pleasures,  or  secular  cares. — 8. 
By  prejudices  against  some  important  principles  in  religion. — 
9,  10.  A  symptom  peculiarly  sad  and  dangerous. — 11.  Direc- 
tions for  recovery. — 12.  Immediately  to  be  pursued.  A  prayer 
for  one  under  spiritual  decays. 

1 .  IF  I  am  so  happy  as  to  prevail  upon  you  in  the 
exhortations  and  cautions  I  have  given,  you  will 
probably  go  on  with  pleasure  and  comfort  in  religion, 
and  your  path  will  generally  be  "  like  the  morning 
light,  which  shineth  more  and  more  until  the  perfect 
day."  Prov.  4:18.  Yet  I  dare  not  flatter  myself 
with  an  expectation  of  such  success  as  shall  carry 
you  above  those  varieties  of  temper,  conduct,  and 
state,  which  have  been  more  or  less  the  complaint 
of  the  best  of  men.  Much  do  I  fear,  that  how  warmly 
soever  your  heart  may  now  be  impressed  with  the 
representation  I  have  been  making,  though  the  great 


DECLENSION    IN    RELIGION.  321 

objects  of  your  faith  and  hope  continue  unchange- 
able, your  temper  towards  them  will  be  changed. 
Much  do  I  fear  that  you  will  feel  your  mind  languish 
and  tire  in  the  good  ways  of  God  ;  nay,  that  you  may 
be  prevailed  upon  to  take  some  step  out  of  them,  and 
may  thus  fall  a  prey  to  some  of  those  temptations 
which  you  now  look  upon  with  a  holy  scorn.  The 
probable  consequence  of  this  will  be,  that  God  will 
hide  his  face  from  you  ;  that  he  will  stretch  forth  his 
afflicting  hand  against  you,  and  that  you  still  will 
see  your  sorrowful  moments,  how  cheerfully  soever 
you  now  "  be  rejoicing  in  the  Lord,  and  joying  in  the 
God  of  your  salvation."  Hab.  3  :  18.  I  hope,  there- 
fore, it  may  be  of  some  service,  if  this  too  probable 
event  should  happen,  to  consider  these  cases  a  little 
more  particularly  ;  and  I  heartily  pray,  that  God 
would  make  what  I  shall  say  concerning  them,  the 
means  of  restoring,  comforting,  and  strengthening 
your  soul,  if  he  ever  suffers  you  in  any  degree  to  de- 
viate from  him. 

2.  We  will  first  consider  the  case  of  spiritual  de- 
clensions and  languor  in  religion.  And  here  I  desire, 
that  before  I  proceed  any  farther,  you  would  observe 
that  I  do  not  comprehend  under  this  head  every 
abatement  of  that  fervor  which  a  young  convert  may 
find,  when  he  first  becomes  experimentally  acquainted' 
with  divine  things.  Our  natures  are  so  framed,  that 
the  novelty  of  objects  strikes  them  in  something  of  a 

ftitt  *nd  Fro*.  21 


822  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

peculiar  manner  :  not  to  urge  how  much  more  easily 
our  passions  are  impressed  in  the  earlier  years  of  life, 
than  when  we  are  more  advanced  in  the  journey  of 
it.  This,  perhaps,  is  not  sufficiently  considered.  Too 
great  a  stress  is  commonly  laid  on  the  flow  of  affec- 
tions ;  and  for  want  of  this,  a  Christian,  who  is  ri- 
pened in  grace,  and  greatly  advanced  in  his  prepara- 
tion for  glory,  may  sometimes  be  led  to  lament  imag- 
inary rather  than  real  decays,  and  to  say,  without 
any  just  -foundation,  "  0  that  it  were  with  me  as  in 
months  past."  Job  29  :  2.  Therefore,  you  can  hardly 
be  too  frequently  told,  that  religion  consists  chiefly, 
"  in  the  '  resolution  of  the  will  for  God,'  and  in  a 
constant  care  to  avoid, whatever  we  are  persuaded 
he  would  disapprove,  to  despatch  the  work  he  has 
assigned  us  in  life,  and  to  promote  his  glory  in  the 
happiness  of  mankind."  To  this  we  are  chiefly  to 
attend,  looking  in  all  to  the  simplicity  and  purity  of 
those  motives  from  which  we  act,  which  we  know 
are  chiefly  regarded  by  that  God  who  searches  the 
heart ;  humbling  ourselves  before  him  at  the  same 
time  under  a  sense  of  our  many  imperfections,  and 
flying  to  the  blood  of  Christ  and  the  grace  of  the 
Gospel. 

3.  Having  given  this  precaution,  I  will  now  a  lit- 
tle more  particularly  describe  the  case,  which  I  call 
the  state  of  a  Christian  who  is  declining  in  religion  ; 
so  far  as  it  does  not  fall  in  with  those  which  I  shall 


DECLENSION    IN    RELIGION,  3^3 

consider  in  the  following  chapters.  And  I  must  ob- 
serve, that  it  chiefly  consists  "  in  a  forgetfulness  of 
divine  objects,  and  a  remissness  in  those  various  du- 
ties to  which  we  stand  engaged  by  that  solemn  sur- 
render which  we  have  made  of  ourselves  to  the 
service  of  God."  There  will  be  a  variety  of  symp- 
toms, according  to  the  different  circumstances  and 
relations  in  which  the  Christian  is  placed  ;  but  some 
will  be  of  a  more  universal  kind.  It  will  be  pecu- 
liarly proper  to  touch  on  these ;  and  so  much  the 
rather,  as  these  declensions  are  often  unobserved,  like 
the  gray  hairs  which  were  upon  Ephraim,  when  he 
knew  it  not.  Hosea  7:9. 

4.  Should  you,  my  reader,  fall  into  this  state,  it 
will  probably  first  discover  itself  by  a  failure  in  the 
duties  of  the  closet.  Not  that  I  suppose  they  will  at 
first,  or  certainly  conclude  that  they  will  at  all,  be 
wholly  omitted ;  but  they  will  be  run  over  in  a  cold 
and  formal  manner.  Sloth,  or  some  of  those  other 
snares  which  I  cautioned  you  against  in  the  former 
chapter,  will  so  far  prevail  upon  you,  that  though 
perhaps  you  know  and  recollect  that  the  proper  sea- 
son of  retirement  is  come,  you  will  sometimes  indulge 
yourself  upon  your  bed  in  the  morning,  sometimes  in 
conversation  or  business  in  the  evening,  so  as  not  to 
have  convenient  time  for  it.  Or  perhaps,  when  you 
eome  into  your  closet  at  that  season,  some  favorite 
book  you  are  desirous  to  read,  some  correspondence 


324  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

that  you  choose  to  carry  on,  or  some  other  amuse- 
ment, will  present  itself,  and  plead  to  be  despatched 
first.  This  will  probably  take  up  n^re  time  than 
you  imagined ;  and  then  secret  prayer  will  be  hur- 
ried over,  and  perhaps  reading  the  Scriptures  quite 
neglected.  You  will  plead,  perhaps,  that  it  is  but 
for  once ;  but  the  same  allowance  will  be  made  a 
second  and  a  third  time  ;  and  it  will  grow  more  easy 
and  familiar  to  you  each  time  than  it  was  the  last. 
And  thus  God  will  be  mocked,  and  your  own  soul 
will  be  defrauded  of  its  spiritual  meals,  if  I  may  be 
allowed  the  expression ;  the  word  of  God  will  be 
slighted,  and  self-examination  quite  disused ;  and 
secret  prayer  itself  will  grow  a  burden  rather  than  a 
delight — a  trifling  ceremony,  rather  than  a  devout 
.  homage  fit  for  the  acceptance  of  "  our  Father  who  is 
in  heaven." 

5.  If  immediate  and  resolute  measures  be  not  taken 
for  your  recovery  from  these  declensions,  they  will 
spread  farther,  and  reach  the  acts  of  social  worship. 
You  will  feel  the  effects  in  your  family  and  in  public 
ordinances.  And  if  you  do  not  feel  them,  the  symp- 
toms will  be  so  much  the  worse.  Wandering  thoughts 
will,  as  it  were,  eat  out  the  very  heart  of  these  duties. 
It  is  not,  I  believe,  the  privilege  of  the  most  eminent 
Christians  to  be  entirely  free  from  them  ;  but  prob- 
ably in  these  circumstances  you  will  find  but  few 
intervals  of  strict  attention,  or  of  any  thing  which 


DECLENSION  IN  RELIGION.  325 

Wears  the  appearance  of  inward  devotion.  And  when 
these  heartless  duties  are  concluded,  there  will  scarce 
be  a  reflection  made,  how  little  God  hath  been  en- 
joyed in  them,  how  little  he  hath  been  honored  by 
them.  Perhaps  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper, 
being  so  admirably  adapted  to  fix  the  attention  of  the 
soul,  and  to  excite  its  warmest  exercise  of  holy  affec- 
tions, may  be  the  last  ordinance  in  which  these  de- 
clensions will  be  felt.  And  yet,  who  can  say  that 
the  sacred  table  is  a  privileged  place  ?  Having  been 
unnecessarily  straitened  in  your  preparations,  you  will 
attend  with  less  fixedness  and  enlargement  of  heart 
than  usual.  And  perhaps  a  dissatisfaction  in  the 
review,  when  there  has  been  a  remarkable  alienation 
or  insensibility  of  mind,  may  occasion  a  disposition  to 
forsake  your  place  and  your  duty  there.  And  when 
your  spiritual  enemies  have  once  gained  this  point 
upon  you,  it  is  probable  you  will  fall  by  swifter  de- 
grees than  ever,  and  your  resistance  to  their  attempts 
will  grow  weaker  and  weaker. 

6.  When  your  love  to  God  our  Father  and  to  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  fails,  your  fervor  of  Christian  af- 
fection to  your  brethren  in  Christ  will  proportionably 
decline,  and  your  concern  for  usefulness  in  life  abate, 
especially  where  any  thing  is  to  be  done  for  spiritual 
edification.  You  will  find  some  one  excuse  or  another 
for  the  neglect  of  religious  discourse,  perhaps  not  only 
among  neighbors  and  Christian  friends,  when  very 


£26  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

convenient  opportunities  offer,  but  even  with  regard 
to  those  who  are  members  of  your  own  families,  and 
to  those  who,  if  you  are  fixed  in  the  superior  relations 
of  life,  are  committed  to  your  care. 

7.  With  this  remissness,  an  attachment  either  to 
Bensual  pleasures  or  to  worldly  business  will  increase. 
For  the  soul  must  have  something  to  employ  it,  and 
something  to  delight  itself  in ;  and  as  it  turns  to  the 
one  or  the  other  of  these,  temptations  of  one  sort  or 
another  will  present  themselves.  In  some  instances, 
perhaps  the  strictest  bonds  of  temperance,  and  the 
regular  appointments  of  life,  may  be  broken  in  upon, 
through  a  fondness  for  company,  and  the  entertain- 
ments which  often  attend  it.  In  other  instances,  the 
interests  of  life  appearing  greater  than  they  did  be- 
fore, and  taking  up  more  of  the  mmd,  contrary  inter- 
ests of  other  persons  may  throw  you  into  disquietude, 
or  plunge  you  into  debate  and  contention,  in  which 
it  is  extremely  difficult  to  preserve  either  the  serenity 
or  the  innocence  of  the  soul.  And  perhaps,  if  min- 
isters and  other  Christian  friends  observe  this,  and 
endeavor  in  a  plain  and  faithful  way  to  reduce  you 
from  your  wandering,  a  false  delicacy  of  mind,  often 
contracted  in  such  a  state  as  this,  will  render  these 
attempts  extremely  disagreeable.  The  ulcer  of  the 
soul,  if  I  may  be  allowed  the  expression,  will  not 
bear  being  touched  when  it  most  needs  it ;  and  one 
of  the  most  generous  and  self-denying  instances  of 


DECLENSION    IN    RELIGION.  327 

Christian  friendship  shall  be  turned  into  an  occasion 
of  coldness  and  distaste,  yea,  perhaps  of  enmity. 

8.  And  possibly,  to  sum  up  all,  this  disordered 
state  of  mind  may  lead  you  into  some  prejudices 
against  those  very  principles  which  might  be  most 
effectual  for  your  recovery;  and  your  great  enemy 
may  succeed  so  far  in  his  attempts  against  you,  as 
to  persuade  you  that  you  have  lost  nothing  in  relig- 
ion, when  you  have  almost  lost  all.     He  may  very 
probably  lead  you  to  conclude,  that  your  former  de- 
votional frames  were  mere  fits  of  enthusiasm,  and 
that  the  holy  regularity  of  your  walk  before  God  was 
an  unnecessary  strictness  and  scrupulosity.    Nay,  you 
may  think  it  a  great  improvement  in  understanding, 
that  you  have  learnt  from  some  new  masters,  that  if 
a  man  treat  his  fellow-creatures  with  humanity  and 
good-nature,  judging  and  reviling  only  those  who 
would  disturb  others  by  the  narrowness  of  their  no- 
tions— for  these  are  generally  exempted  from  other 
objects  of  the  most  universal  and  disinterested  be- 
nevolence so  often  boasted  of — he  must  necessarily 
be  in  a  very  good  state,  though  he  pretend  not  to 
converse   much  with  God,  provided  that  he  think 
respectfully  of  him,  and  do  not  provoke  him  by  any 
gross  immoralities. 

9.  I  mention  this  in  the  last  stage  of  religious  de- 
clension, because  I  apprehend  that  to  be  its  proper 
place  ;  and  I  fear  it  will  be  found,  by  experience,  to 


£28  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 

stand  upon  the  very  confines  of  that  gross  apostasy 
into  deliberate  and  presumptuous  sin,  which  will 
claim  our  consideration  under  the  next  head.  And 
because,  too,  it  is  that  symptom  which  most  effect- 
ually tends  to  prevent  the  success,  and  even  the  use 
of  any  proper  remedies,  in  consequence  of  a  fond 
and  fatal  apprehension  that  they  are  needless.  It 
is,  if  I  may  borrow  the  simile,  like  those  fits  of 
lethargic  drowsiness  which  often  precede  apoplexies 
and  death. 

10.  It  is  by  no  means  my  design  at  this  time  to 
reckon  up,  much  less  to  consider  at  large,  those  dan- 
gerous principles  which  are  now  ready  to  possess  the 
mind,  and  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  false  and  treach- 
erous peace.     Indeed  they  are  in  different  instances 
various,  and  sometimes  run  into  opposite  extremes. 
But  if  God  awaken  you  to  read  your  Bible  with  at- 
tention, and  give  you  to  feel  the  spirit  with  which  it 
is  written,  almost  every  page  will  flash  conviction 
upon  the  mind,  and  spread  a  light  to  scatter  and 
disperse  these  shades  of  darkness. 

11.  "What  I  chiefly  intend  in  this  address,  is  to 
engage  you,  if  possible,  as  soon  as  you  perceive  the 
first  symptoms  of  these  declensions,  to  be  upon  your 
guard,  and  to  endeavor,  as  speedily  as  possible,  to 
recover  yourself  from  them.     And  I  would  remind 

'  you,  that  the  remedy  must  begin  where  the  first  cause 
or  complaint  prevailed — I  mean,  in  the  closet.  Take 


DECLENSION    IN   RELIGION.  329 

some  time  for  recollection,  and  ask  your  own  con- 
science seriously,  how  matters  stand  between  the 
blessed  God  and  your  soul.  Whether  they  are  as 
they  once  were,  and  as  you  could  wish  them  to  be, 
if  you  saw  your  life  just  drawing  to  a  period,  and 
were  to  pass  immediately  into  the  eternal  state.  One 
serious  thought  of  eternity  shames  a  thousand  vain 
excuses,  with  which,  in  the  forgetfulness  of  it,  we  are 
ready  to  delude  our  own  souls.  And  when  you  feel 
that  secret  misgiving  of  heart  which  will  naturally 
arise  on  this  occasion,  do  not  endeavor  to  palliate  the 
matter,  and  to  find  out  slight  and  artful  coverings 
for  what  you  cannot  forbear  secretly  condemning, 
but  honestly  fall  under  the  conviction,  and  be  hum- 
bled for  it.  Pour  out  your  heart  before  God,  and 
seek  the  renewed- influences  of  his  Spirit  and  grace. 
Return  with  more  exactness  to  secret  devotion,  and 
to  self-examination.  Read  the  Scripture  with  yet 
greater  diligence,  and  especially  the  more  devotional 
and  spiritual  parts  of  it.  Labor  to  ground  it  in  your 
heart,  and  to  feel  what  you  have  reason  to  believe 
the  sacred  penmen  felt  when  they  wrote,  so  far  as 
circumstances  may  agree.  Open  your  soul,  with  all 
simplicity,  to  every  lesson  which  the  word  of  God 
would  teach  you;  and  guard  against  those  things 
which  you  perceive  to  alienate  your  mind  from  in- 
ward religion,  though  there  be  nothing  criminal  in 
the  things  themselves.  They  may  perhaps  in  the 


330  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 

general  be  lawful ;  to  some  possibly  they  may  be  ex- 
pedient ;  but  if  they  produce  such  an  effect  as  was 
mentioned  above,  it  is  certain  they  are  not  conven- 
ient for  you.  In  these  circumstances,  above  all,  seek 
the  converse  of  those  Christians  whose  progress  in 
religion  seems  most  remarkable,  and  who  adorn  their 
profession  in  the  most  amiable  manner.  Labor  to 
obtain  their  temper  and  sentiments,  and  lay  open 
your  case  and  your  heart  to  them,  with  all  the  free- 
dom which  prudence  will  permit.  Employ  yourself, 
at  seasons  of  leisure,  in  reading  practical  and  devo- 
tional books,  in  which  the  mind  and  heart  of  the 
pious  author  is  transfused  into  the  work,  and  in 
which  you  can,  as  it  were,  taste  the  genuine  spirit 
of  Christianity.  And  to  conclude,  take  the  first  op- 
portunity that  presents,  of  making  an  approach  to 
the  table  of  the  Lord,  and  spare  neither  time  nor 
pains  in  the  most  serious  preparation  for  it.  There 
renew  your  covenant  with  God ;  put  your  soul  anew 
into  the  hands  of  Christ,  and  endeavor  to  view  the 
wonders  of  his  dying  love,  in  such  a  manner  as  may 
rekindle  the  languishing  flame,  and  quicken  you  to 
more  vigorous  resolution  than  ever,  "  to  live  unto 
him  who  died  for  you."  2  Cor.  5  : 15.  And  watch 
over  your  own  heart,  that  the  good  impressions  you 
then  felt  may  continue.  Rest  not,  till  you  have 
obtained  as  confirmed  a  state  of  religion  as  you 
ever  knew.  Rest  not,  till  you  have  made  a  greater 


PRAYER   UNDER  DECLENSION.  331 

progress  than  before  ;  for  it  is  only  by  a  zeal  to  go 
forward,  that  you  can  be  secure  from  the  danger  of 
going  backward,  and  revolting  more  and  more. 

12.  I  only  add,  that  it  is  necessary  to  take  these 
precautions  as  soon  as  possible,  or  you  will  probably 
find  a  much  swifter  progress  than  you  are  aware  in 
the  downhill  road ;  and  you  may  possibly  be  left  of 
God  to  fall  into  some  gross  and  aggravated  sin,  so 
as  to  fill  your  conscience  with  an  agony  and  horror 
which  the  pain  of  "broken  bones,"  Psa.  51  :  8,  can 
but  imperfectly  express. 

A  PRAYER  FOR  ONE  UNDER  SPIRITUAL  DECAYS. 

"  Eternal  and  unchangeable  Jehovah,  thy  perfec- 
tions and  glories  are,  like  thy  being,  immutable. 
Jesus  thy  Son  is  'the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and 
for  ever.'  Heb.  13  :  8.  The  eternal  world,  to  which 
I  am  hastening,  is  always  equally  important,  and 
presses  upon  the  attentive  mind  for  a  more  fixed  and 
solemn  regard,  in  proportion  to  the  degree  in  which 
it  comes  nearer  and  nearer.  But,  alas,  my  views, 
and  my  affections,  and  my  best  resolutions,  are  con- 
tinually varying,  like  this  poor  body,  which  goes 
through  daily  and  hourly  alterations  in  its  state  and 
circumstances.  Whence,  0  Lord,  whence  this  sad 
change  which  I  now  experience  in  the  frame  and 
temper  of  my  mind  towards  thee?  Whence  this 
alienation  of  my  soul  from  thee?  Why  can  I  not 


832  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

come  to  thee  with  all  the  endearments  of  filial  love, 
as  I  once  could  ?  Why  is  thy  service  so  remissly  at- 
tended, if  attended  at  all  ?  And  why  are  the  exercises 
of  it,  which  were  once  my  greatest  pleasure,  become 
a  burden  to  me  ?  Where,  0  God,  is  the  blessedness 
I  once  spoke  of,  Gal.  4:15,  when  my  joy  in  thee  as 
my  heavenly  Father  was  so  conspicuous  that  stran- 
gers might  have  observed  it,  and  when  my  heart  did 
so  overflow  with  love  to  thee,  and  with  zeal  for  thy 
service,  that  it  was  matter  of  self-denial  to  me  to 
limit  and  restrain  the  genuine  expressions  of  those 
strong  emotions  of  my  soul,  even  where  prudence 
and  duty  required  it  ? 

"Alas,  Lord,  whither  am  I  fallen?  Thine  eye  sees 
me  still ;  but  0,  how  unlike  what  it  once  saw  me. 
Cold  and  insensible  as  I  am,  I  must  blush  on  the 
reflection.  Thou  '  seest  me  in  secret,'  Matt.  6  :  6,  and 
seest  rne,  perhaps,  often  amusing  myself  with  trifles, 
in  those  seasons  which  I  used  solemnly  to  devote  to 
thine  immediate  service.  Thou  seest  me  coming 
into  thy  presence  as  by  constraint ;  and  when  I  am 
before  thee,  so  straitened  in  my  spirit  that  I  hardly 
know  what  to  say  to  thee,  though  thou  art  the  God 
with  whom  I  have  to  do,  and  though  the  keeping 
up  a  humble  and  dutiful  correspondence  with  thee  is, 
beyond  all  comparison,  the  most  important  business 
of  my  life.  And  even  when  I  am  speaking  to  thee, 
with  how  much  coldness  and  formality, is  it.  It  is 


PRAYER  UNDER    DECLENSION.  333 

perhaps  the  work  of  imagination,  the  labor  of  the 
lips ;  but  where  are  those  ardent  desires,  those  intense 
breathings  after  God,  which  I  once  felt?  "Where  is 
that  pleasing  repose  in  thee  which  I  was  once  con- 
scious of,  as  being  near  my  divine  rest,  as  being  happy 
in  that  nearness,  and  resolving  that,  if  possible,  I 
would  no  more  be  removed  from  it?  But  0,  how 
far  am  1  now  removed.  When  these  short  devotions, 
if  they  may  be  called  devotions,  are  over,  in  what 
long  intervals  do  I  forget  thee,  and  appear  so  little 
animated  with  thy  love,  so  little  devoted  to  thy  ser- 
vice, that  a  stranger  might  converse  with  me  a  con- 
siderable time,  without  knowing  that  I  had  ever 
formed  any  acquaintance  with  thee,  without  discover- 
ing that  I  had  so  much  as  known  or  heard  any  thing 
of  God.  Thou  callest  me  to  thine  house,  0  Lord 
on  thine  own  day ;  but  how  heartless  are  my  services 
there.  I  present  thee  no  more  than  my  body;  my 
thoughts  and  affections  are  engrossed  with  other  ob- 
jects, while  I  '  draw  near  thee  with  my  mouth,  and 
honor  thee  with  my  lips.'  Isa.  29  : 13.  Thou  call- 
est me  to  thy  table ;  but  my  heart  is  so  frozen,  that 
it  hardly  melts  even  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  hardly 
feels  any  efficacy  in  the  blood  of  Jesus.  0  wretched 
creature  that  I  am :  unworthy  of  being  called  thine ; 
unworthy  of  a  place  among  thy  children,  or  of  the 
meanest  situation  in  thy  family :  rather  worthy  to  be 
cast  out,  to  be  'forsaken,  yea,  to  be  utterly  destroyed. 


3&1  RISE  AND    PROGRESS. 

"  Is  this,  Lord,  the  service  which  I  once  promised, 
and  which  thou  hast  so  many  thousand  reasons  to 
expect  ?  Are  these  the  returns  I  am  making  for  thy 
daily  providential  care,  for  the  sacrifice  of  thy  Son, 
for  the  communications  of  thy  Spirit,  for  the  pardon 
of  my  numberless  aggravated  sins,  for  the  hopes,  the 
undeserved  and  so  often  forfeited  hopes  of  eternal 
glory  ?  Lord,  I  am  ashamed  to  stand  or  to  kneel 
before  thee.  But  pity  me,  I  beseech  thee,  and  help 
me ;  for  I  am  a  pitiable  object  indeed :  my  soul 
eleaveth  unto  the  dust,  and  lays  itself  as  in  the  dust 
before  thse ;  but  0,  quicken  me  according  to  thy 
word.  Psa.  119  :  25.  Let  me  trifle  no  longer,  for  I 
am  upon  the  brink  of  a  precipice.  I  am  thinking  of 
my  ways.  0  give  me  grace  to  turn  my  feet  unto 
thy  testimonies,  to  make  haste,  without  any  farther 
delay,  that  I  may  keep  thy  commandments.  Psalm 
119 : 59,  60.  Search  me,  0  Lord,  and  try  me.  Psalm 
139  :  23.  Go  to  the  first  root  of  this  distemper,  which 
spreads  itself  over  my  soul,  and  recover  me  from  it. 
Represent  sin  unto  me,  0  Lord,  I  beseech  thee,  that 
I  may  see  it  with  abhorrence ;  and  represent  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  me  in  such  a  light,  that  I  may 
look  upon  him  and  mourn,  Zee.  12  :  10 — that  I  may 
look  upon  him  and  love.  May  I  awaken  from  this 
stupid  lethargy  into  which  I  am  sinking,  and  may 
Christ  give  me  more  abundant  degrees  of  spiritual 
life  and  activity  than  I  have  ever  yet  received ;  and 


PRAYER  UNDER  DECLENSION.      335 

may  I  be  so  quickened  and  animated  by  him,  that  I 
may  more  than  recover  the  ground  I  have  lost,  and 
may  make  a  more  speedy  and  exemplary  progress 
than  in  my  best  days  I  have  ever  yet  done.  Send 
down  upon  me,  0  Lord,  in  a  more  rich  and  abundant 
effusion,  thy  good  Spirit.  May  he  dwell  in  me  as  a 
temple  which  he  has  consecrated  to  himself,  1  Cor. 
3  :  16,  and  while  all  the  service  is  directed  and  gov- 
erned by  him,  may  holy  and  acceptable  sacrifices  be 
continually  offered.  Rom.  12  :  1.  May  the  incense 
be  constant,  and  may  it  be  fragrant.  May  the 
sacred  fire  burn  and  blaze  perpetually.  Lev.  6  :  13. 
And  may  none  of  its  vessels  ever  be  profaned,  by 
being  employed  to  an  unholy  or  forbidden  use. 
Amen." 


336  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE  SAD  CASE  OF  A  RELAPSE  INTO  KNOWN  AND  DELIB- 
ERATE SIN,  AFTER  SOLEMN  ACTS  OF  DEDICATION  TO 
GOD,  AND  SOME  PROGRESS  MADE  IN  RELIGION. 

1.  Unthought-of  relapses  may  happen. — 2.  And  bring  the 
eoul  into  a  miserable  case. — 3.  Yet  the  case  is  not  desperate.— 
4.  The  backslider  urged  immediately  to  return,  by  deep  humil- 
iation before  God  for  so  aggravated  an  offence. — 5.  By  re- 
newed regards  to  the  divine  mercy  in  Christ. — 6.  By  an  open 
profession  of  repentance,  where  the  crime  hath  given  public 
offence. — 7.  Falls  to  be  reviewed  for  future  caution. — 8.  The 
chapter  concludes  with  a  prayer  for  the  use  of  one  who  hath 
fallen  into  gross  sins,  after  religious  resolutions  and  engage- 
ments. 

1.  THE  declensions  which  I  have  described  in  the 
foregoing  chapter,  must  be  acknowledged  worthy  of 
deep  lamentation ;  but  happy  will  you  be,  my  dear 
reader,  if  you  never  know,  by  experience,  a  circum- 
stance yet  more  melancholy  than  this.  Perhaps 
when  you  consider  the  view  of  things  which  you 
now  have,  you  imagine  that  no  consideration  can 
ever  bribe  you,  in  any  single  instance,  to  act  con- 
trary to  the  present  dictates  or  suggestions  of  your 
conscience,  or  of  the  Spirit  of  God  by  which  it  has 
been  enlightened  and  directed.  No ;  you  think  it 
would  be  better  for  you  to  die.  And  you  think 


RELAPSE  INTO  KNOWN  SIN.  337 

rightly ;  but  Peter  thought  and  said  so  too  :  "  Though 
I  should  die  with  thee,  yet  will  I  not  deny  thee," 
Matt.  26  :  35  ;  and  yet,  after  all,  he  fell ;  and  there- 
fore, "be  not  high-minded,  but  fear."  Rom.  11  :  20. 
It  is  not  impossible  but  you  may  fall  into  that  very 
sin,  of  which  you  imagine  you  are  least  in  danger,  OY 
into  that  against  which  you  have  most  solemnly  re- 
solved, and  of  which  you  have  already  most  bitterly 
repented.  You  may  relapse  into  it  again  and  again. 
But  0,  if  you  do,  nay,  if  you  should  deliberately  and 
presumptuously  fall  but  once,  how  deep  will  it  pierce 
your  heart.  How  dear  will  you  pay  for  all  the 
pleasure  with  which  the  temptation  has  been  accom- 
panied. How  will  this  separate  between  God  and 
you.  What  a  desolation,  what  a  dreadful  desolation 
will  it  spread  over  your  soul.  It  is  grievous  to  think 
of  it.  Perhaps  in  such  a  state  you  may  feel  more 
agony  and  distress  in  your  own  conscience,  when  you 
come  seriously  to  reflect,  than  you  ever  felt  when 
you  were  first  awakened  and  reclaimed  ;  because  the 
sin  will  be  attended  with  some  very  high  aggrava- 
tions, beyond  those  of  your  unregenerate  state.  I 
well  know  the  person  that  said,  "  The  agonies  of  a 
sinner,  in  the  first  pangs  of  his  repentance,  are  not  to 
be  mentioned  in  comparison  with  those  of  the 
4 backslider  in  heart,'  when  he  comes  to  be  'filled 
with  his  own  ways.'  "  Prov.  14  :  14. 

2.  Indeed,  it  is  enough  to  wound  one's  heart  to 

Rise  and  Prog.  22 


838  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 

think  how  yours  will  be  wounded ;  how  all  your 
comforts,  all  your  evidences,  all  your  hopes,  will  be 
clouded.;  what  thick  darkness  will  spread  itself  on 
every  side  ;  so  that  neither  sun,  nor  moon,  nor  stars 
will  appear  in  your  heaven.  Your  spiritual  consola- 
tions will  be  gone ;  and  your  temporal  enjoyments 
will  also  be  rendered  tasteless  and  insipid.  And  if 
afflictions  be  sent,  as  they  probably  may,  in  order  to 
reclaim  you,  a  consciousness  of  guilt  will  sharpen 
and  envenom  the  dart.  Then  will  the  enemy  of 
your  soul,  with  all  his  art  and  power,  rise  up  against 
you,  encouraged  by  your  fall,  and  laboring  to  tram- 
ple you  down  in  utter,  hopeless  ruin.  He  will  per- 
suade you  that  you  are  already  undone  beyond  re- 
covery. He  will  suggest,  that  it  signifies  nothing  to 
attempt  it  any  more ;  for  that  every  effort,  every 
amendment,  every  act  of  repentance,  will  but  make 
your  case  so  much  the  worse,  and  plunge  you  lower 
and  lower  into  hell. 

3.  Thus  will  he  endeavor  by  terrors  to  keep  you 
from  that  sure  remedy  which  yet  remains.  But 
yield  not  to  him.  Your  case  will  indeed  be  sad ; 
and  if  it  be  now  your  case,  it'  is  deplorably  so  ;  and 
to  rest  in  it,  would  be  still  much  worse.  Your  heart 
would  be  hardened  yet  more  and  more  ;  and  nothing 
could  be  expected  but  sudden  and  aggravated  de- 
struction. Yet,  blessed  be  God,  it  is  not  quite  hope- 
less. Your  "  wounds  are  corrupted,  because  of  your 


RELAPSE  INTO  KNOWN   SIN.  339 

foolishness,"  Psalm  38  :  5 ;  but  the  gangrene  is  not 
incurable.  "  There  is  a  balm  in  Gilead,  there  is  a 
physician  there."  Jer,  8  :  22.  Do  not,  therefore, 
render  your  condition  hopeless,  by  now  saying,  "  There 
is  no  hope,"  Jer.  2  :  25,  and  by  drawing  a  fatal  argu- 
ment from  a  false  supposition,  "  for  going  after  the 
idols  you  have  loved."  Let  me  address  you  in  the 
language  of  God  to  his  backsliding  people,  wheiy 
they  were  ready  to  apprehend  that  to  be  their  case, 
and  to  draw  such  a  conclusion  from  it :  "  Only  return 
unto  me,  saith  the  Lord."  Jer.  3  :  13.  Cry  for  re- 
newed grace ;  and  in  the  strength  of  it,  labor  to  return. 
Cry  with  David,  under  the  like  guilt,  "  I  have  gone 
astray  like  a  lost  sheep ;  seek  thy  servant,  for  I  do 
not  forget  thy  commandments,"  Psa.  119  :  176  ;  and 
that  remembrance  of  them  is,  I  hope,  a  token  for 
good.  But  if  thou  wilt  return  at  all,  do  it  immedi- 
ately. Take  not  one  step  more  in  that  fatal  path 
to  which  thou  hast  turned  aside.  Think  not  to  add 
one  more  sin  to  the  account,  and  then  to  repent ;  as 
if  it  would  be  but  the  same  thing  on  the  whole. 
The  second  error  may  be  worse  than  the  first ;  it 
may  make  way  for  another  and  another,  and  draw 
on  a  terrible  train  of  consequences,  beyond  all  you 
can  now  imagine.  Make  haste,  therefore,  and  do  not 
delay.  "  Escape,  and  fly  as  for  thy  life,"  Genesis 
19  :  17,  before  "the  dart  strike  through  thy  liver." 
Prov.  7  : 23.  "  Give  not  sleep  to  thine  eyes,  nor  slum- 


340  RISE    AND   PROGRESS. 

ber  to  thine  eyelids,"  Prov.  6  :  4,  lie  not  down  upon 
thy  bed  under  unpardoned  guilt,  lest  evil  overtake 
thee,  lest  the  sword  of  divine  justice  should  smite 
thee,  and  whilst  thou  purposest  to  return  to-morrow, 
thou  shouldst  this  night  go  and  take  possession  of 
hell. 

4.  Return  immediately,  and  permit  me  to  add, 
return  solemnly.  Some  very  pious  and  excellent  di- 
vines have  expressed  themselves  upon  this  head  in  a 
manner  which  seems  liable  to  dangerous  abuse,  when 
they  urge  men  after  a  fall,  "  not  to  stay  to  survey 
the  ground,  nor  consider  how  they  came  to  be  thrown 
down,  but  immediately  to  get  up  and  renew  the 
race."  In  slighter  cases  the  advice  is  good ;  but 
when  conscience  has  suffered  such  violent  outrage, 
by  the  commission  of  known,  wilful,  and  deliberate 
sin — a  case  which  one  would  hope  should  but  seldom 
happen  to  those  who  have  once  sincerely  entered  on 
a  religious  course — I  can  by  no  means  think  that 
either  reason  or  Scripture  encourages  such  a  method. 
Especially  would  it  be  improper,  if  the  action  itself 
had  been  of  so  heinous  a  nature,  that  even  to  have 
fallen  into  it  on  the  most  sudden  surprise  of  tempta- 
tion, must  have  greatly  ashamed,  and  terrified,  and 
distressed  the  soul.  Such  an  affair  is  dreadfully  sol- 
emn, and  should  be  treated  accordingly.  If  this  has 
been  the  sad  case  with  you,  my  then  unhappy  reader, 
I  would  pity  you,  and  mourn  over  you  ;  and  would 


RELAPSE  INTO  KNOWN   SIN.  34J 

beseech  you,  as  you  value  your  peace,  your  recovery, 
the  health  and  the  very  life  of  your  soul,  that  you 
would  not  loiter  away  an  hour.  Retire  immediately 
for  serious  reflection.  Break  through  other  engage- 
ments and  employments,  unless  they  be  such  as  you 
cannot  in  conscience  delay  for  a  few  hours,  which 
can  seldom  happen  in  the  circumstance  I  now  sup- 
pose. Set  yourself  to  it,  therefore,  as  in  the  presence 
of  God,  and  hear  at  large,  patiently  and  humbly, 
what  conscience  has  to  say,  though  it  chide  and  re- 
proach severely.  Yea,  earnestly  pray  that  God  would 
speak  to  you  by  conscience,  and  make  you  more 
thoroughly  to  know  and  feel  "what  an  evil  and  bit- 
ter thing  it  is,  that  you  have  thus  forsaken  him." 
Jer.  2  :  19.  Think  of  all  the  aggravating  circum- 
stances attending  your  offence  ;  and  especially  think 
of  those  which  arise  from  abused  mercy  and  good- 
ness ;  which  arise,  not  only  from  your  solemn  vows 
and  engagements  to  God,  but  from  the  views  you 
have  had  of  a  Redeemer's  love,  sealed  even  in  blood. 
And  are  these  the  returns  ?  Was  it  not  enough  that 
Christ  should  have  been  thus  injured  by  his  ene- 
mies ?  Must  he  be  "  wounded  in  the  house  of  his 
friends"  too?  Zech.  13  :  6.  Were  "you  delivered 
to  work  such  abominations  as  these?"  Jer.  7  :  10. 
Did  the  blessed  Jesus  groan  and  die  for  you,  that 
you  might  sin  with  boldness  and  freedom — that  you 
might  extract,  as  it  were,  the  very  spirit  and  essence 


342  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

of  sin,  and  offend  God  to  a  height  of  ingratitude  and 
baseness,  which  would  otherwise  have  been,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  impossible  ?  0  think,  how  justly 
God  might  "  cast  you  out  from  his  presence."  How 
justly  he  might  number  you  among  the  most  signal 
instances  of  his  vengeance.  And  think  how  "  your 
heart  would  endure,  or  your  hands  be  strong,"  if  he 
should  "  deal  thus  with  you."  Ezek.  22  :  14.  Alas, 
all  your  former  experiences  would  enhance  your 
sense  of  the  ruin  and  misery  that  must  be  felt  in  an 
eternal  banishment  from  the  divine  presence  and 
favor. 

5.  Indulge  such  reflections  as  these.  Stand  the 
humbling  sight  of  your  sins  in  such  a  view  as  this. 
The  more  odious  and  the  more  painful  it  appears, 
the  greater  prospect  there  will  be  of  your  benefit  by 
attending  to  it.  But  the  matter  is  not  to  rest  here. 
All  these  reflections  are  intended,  not  to  grieve,  but 
to  cure ;  and  to  grieve  no  more  than  may  promote 
the  cure.  You  are  indeed  to  look  upon  sin  ;  but  you 
are  also,  in  such  circumstances,  if  ever,  to  look  upon 
Christ — to  look  upon  him  whom  you  have  now  pierced 
deeper  than  before,  and  to  mourn  for  him  writh  sin- 
cerity and  tenderness.  Zech.  12  :  10.  The  God 
whom  you  have  injured  and  affronted,  whose  laws 
you  have  broken,  and  whose  justice  you  have,  as  it 
were,  challenged  by  this  foolish,  wretched  apostasy, 
is  nevertheless,  "a  most  merciful  God."  Deut.  4  :31* 


RELAPSE    INTO   KNOWN  SIN.  £43 

You  cannot  be  so  ready  to  return  to  him  as  he  is  to 
receive  you.  Even  now  does  he,  as  it  were,  solicit 
a  reconciliation,  by  those  tender  impressions  which  he 
is  making  upon  your  heart.  But  remember  how  he 
will  be  reconciled.  It  is  in  the  very  same  way  in 
which  you  made  your  first  approach  to  him — in  the 
name  and  for  the  sake  of  his  dear  Son.  Come,  there- 
fore, in  an  humble  dependence  upon  him.  Renew 
your  application  to  Jesus,  that  his  blood  may,  as  it 
were,  be  sprinkled  upon  your  soul,  that  your  soul 
may  thereby  be  purified,  and  your  guilt  removed. 
This  very  sin  of  yours,  which  the  blessed  God  fore- 
saw, increased  the  weight  of  your  Redeemer's  suffer- 
ings :  it  was  concerned  in  shedding  his  blood.  Hum- 
bly go,  and  place  your  wounds,  as  it  were,  under  the 
droppings  of  that  precious  balm,  by  which  alone  they 
can  be  healed.  That  compassionate  Saviour  will 
delight  to  restore  you,  when  you  lie  as  an  humble 
suppliant  at  his  feet,  and  will  graciously  take  part 
with  you  in  that  peace  and  pleasure  which  he  gives. 
Through  him  renew  your  covenant  with  God,  that 
broken  covenant,  the  breach  of  which  divine  justice 
might  teach  you  to  know  "  by  terrible  things  in  right- 
eousness," Psalm  45  :  4  :  but  mercy  allows  of  an 
accommodation.  Let  the  consciousness  and  remem- 
brance of  that  breach  engage  you  to  enter  into  cove- 
nant anew,  under  a  deeper  sense  than  ever  of  your 
own  weakness,  and  a  more  cordial  dependence  on. 


314  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

divine  grace  for  your  security,  than  you  have  ever  yet 
entertained.  I  know  you  will  be  ashamed  to  present 
yourself  among  the  children  of  God  in  his  sanctuary, 
and  especially  at  his  table,  under  a  consciousness  of 
so  much  guilt ;  but  break  through  that  shame,  if 
Providence  open  you  the  way.  You  would  be  hum- 
bled before  your  offended  Father  ;  but  surely  there  is 
no  place  where  you  are  more  likely  to  be  humbled, 
than  when  you  see  yourself  in  his  house  ;  and  no  ordi- 
nance administered  there  can  lay  you  lower  than  that 
in  which  "  Christ  is  evidently  set  forth  as  crucified 
before  your  eyes."  Gal.  3:1.  Sinners  are  the  only 
persons  who  have  business  there.  The  best  of  men 
come  to  that  sacred  table  as  sinners.  As  such  make 
your  approach  to  it ;  yea,  as  the  greatest  of  sinners, 
as  one  who  needs  the  blood  of  Jesus  as  much  as  any 
creature  upon  earth. 

6.  And  let  me  remind  you  of  one  thing  more.  If 
your  fall  has  been  of  such  a  nature  as  to  give  any 
scandal  to  others,  be  not  at  all  concerned  to  save 
appearances,  and  to  moderate  those  mortifications 
which  deep  humiliation  before  them  would  occasion. 
The  depth  and  pain  of  that  mortification  is  indeed  an 
excellent  medicine,  which  God  has  in  his  wise  good- 
ness appointed  for  you  in  such  circumstances  as 
these.  In  such  a  case,  confess  your  fault  with  the 
greatest  frankness  ;  aggravate  it  to  the  utmost ;  en- 
treat pardon  and  prayer  from  those  whom  you  have 


RELAPSE  INTO  KNOWN   SIN.  315 

offended.  Then,  and  never  till  then,  will  you  be  in 
the  way  to  peace  ;  not  by  palliating  a  fault,  not  by 
making  vain  excuses,  not  by  objecting  to  the  man- 
ner in  which  others  may  have  treated  you  ;  as  if  the 
least  excess  of  rigor  in  a  faithful  admonition  were  a 
crime  equal  to  some  great  immorality  that  occasioned 
it.  This  can  only  proceed  from  the  madness  of  pride 
and  self-love  :  it  is  the  sensibility  of  a  wound  which 
is  hardened,  swelled,  and  inflamed ;  and  it  must  be 
reduced,  and  cooled,  and  suppled,  before  it  can  possi- 
bly be  cured.  To  be  censured  and  condemned  by 
men,  will  be  but  a  little  grievance  to  a  soul  thor- 
oughly humbled  and  broken  under  a  sense  of  having 
incurred  the  condemning  sentence  of  God.  Such  a 
one  will  rather  desire  to  glorify  God,  by  submitting 
to  deserved  blame ;  and  will  fear  deceiving  others 
into  a  more  favorable  opinion  of  himself  than  he  in- 
wardly knows  that  he  deserves.  These  are  the  sen- 
timents which  God  gives  to  the  sincere  penitent  in 
such  a  case ;  and  by  this  means  he  restores  him  to 
that  credit  and  regard  among  others  which  he  does 
not  know  how  to  seek,  but  which,  nevertheless,  for 
the  sake  both  of  his  comfort  and  usefulness,  God  wills 
that  he  should  have,  and  which  it  is,  humanly  speak- 
ing, impossible  for  him  to  recover  any  other  way. 
But  there  is  something  so  honorable  in  the  frank 
acknowledgment  of  a  fault,  and  in  deep  humiliation 
for  it,  that  all  who  see  it  must  needs  approve  it. 


346  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 

They  pity  an  offender  who  is  brought  to  such  a  dis- 
position, and  endeavor  to  comfort  him  with  return- 
ing expressions  not  only  of  their  love,  but  of  their 
esteem  too. 

7.  Excuse  this  digression,  which  may  suit  some 
cases  ;  and  which  would  suit  many  more,  if  a  regu- 
lar discipline  were  to  be  exercised  in  churches ;  for, 
on  such  a  supposition,  the  Lord's  supper  could  not  be 
approached,  after  visible  and  scandalous  falls,  with- 
out solemn  confession  of  the  offence,  and  declarations 
of  repentance.  On  the  other  hand,  there  may  be 
instances  of  sad  apostasy,  where  the  crime,  though 
highly  aggravated  before  God,  may  not  fall  under 
human  notice.  In  this  case,  remember  that  your 
business  is  with  Him  to  whose  piercing  eye  every 
thing  appears  in  its  just  light :  before  him,  therefore, 
prostrate  your  soul,  and  seek  a  solemn  reconciliation 
with  him,  confirmed  by  the  memorials  of  his  dying 
Son.  And  when  this  is  done,  imagine  not,  that  be- 
cause you  have  received  the  tokens  of  pardon,  the 
guilt  of  your  apostasy  is  to  be  forgotten  at  once.  Bear 
it  still  in  your  memory  for  future  caution  :  lament  it 
before  God,  especially  in  the  frequent  returns  of  se- 
cret devotion  ;  and  view  with  humiliation  the  scars 
of  those  wounds  which  your  own  folly  occasioned, 
even  when  by  divine  grace  they  are  thoroughly  healed. 
For  God  establishes  his  covenant,  not  to  remove  the 
sense  of  every  past  abomination,  but  "that  thou 


PRAYER  FOR  ONE  FALLEN  INTO  SIN.   347 

mayest  remember  thy  ways,  and  be  confounded,  and 
never  open  thy  mouth  any  more  because  of  thy  shame, 
even  when  I  am  pacified  towards  thee  for  all  that 
thou  hast  done,  saith  the  Lord.''  Ezek.  16  :  63. 

8.  And  now,  upon  the  whole,  if  you  desire  to  at- 
tain such  a  temper,  and  to  return  to  such  steps  as 
these,  then  immediately  fall  down  before  God,  and 
pour  out  your  heart  in  his  presence,  in  language  like 
this. 

A*  PRAYER  FOR  ONE  WHO  HAS  FALLEN  INTO  GROSS  SIN, 
AFTER  RELIGIOUS  RESOLUTIONS  AND  ENGAGEMENTS. 

"  0  most  Holy,.  Holy,  Holy  Lord  God,  when  I  seri- 
ously reflect  on  thy  spotless  purity,  and  on  the  strict 
and  impartial  methods  of  thy  steady  administration, 
together  with  that  almighty  power  of  thine  which  is 
able  to  carry  every  thought  of  thine  heart  into  imme- 
diate and  full  execution,  I  may  justly  appear  before 
thee  this  day  with  shame  and  terror,  in  confusion  and 
consternation  of  spirit.  This  day,  0  my  God,  this 
dark,  mournful  day,  would  I  take  occasion  to  look 
back  to  that  sad  source  of  our  guilt  and  our  misery, 
the  apostasy  of  our  common  parents,  and  say  with 
thine  offending  servant  David,  '  Behold,  I  was  shapen 
in  iniquity,  and  in  sin  did  my  mother  conceive  me/ 
Psalm  51:5.  This  day  would  I  lament  all  the  fatal 
consequences  of  such  a  descent  with  regard  to  my- 
self. And  0,  how  many  have  they  been.  The  re- 


348  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

membrance  of  the  sins  of  my  unconverted  state,  and 
the  failings  and  infirmities  of  my  after-life,  may  justly 
confound  me.  How  much  more  such  a  scene  as  now 
lies  before  my  conscience,  and  before  thine  all-seeing 
eye.  For  thou,  0  Lord, '  knowest  my  foolishness,  and 
my  sins  are  not  hid  from  thee.'  Psalm  69  :  5.  Thou 
tellest  all  my  wanderings  from  thy  statutes,  Psalm 
56  :  8  ;  thou  seest  and  thou  recordest  every  instance 
of  my  disobedience  to  thee,  and  of  my  rebellion  against 
thee.  Thou  seest  them  in  every  aggravated  circum- 
stance which  I  can  discern,  and  many  more  which  I 
have  never  observed  or  reflected  upon.  How  then 
shall  I  appear  in  thy  presence,  or  lift  up  my  face  to 
thee.  Ezra  9:6.  I  am  full  of  confusion,  Job  10  :  15, 
and  feel  a  secret  regret  in  the  thought  of  applying  to 
thee  ;  but,  '  0  Lord,  to  whom  shall  I  go  but  unto 
thee,'  John  6  :  68  ;  unto  thee,  on  whom  depends 
my  life  or  my  death  ;  unto  thee,  who  alone  canst  take 
away  the  burden  of  guilt  which  now  presses  me  down 
to  the  dust,  who  alone  canst  restore  to  my  soul  that 
rest  and  peace  which  I  have  lost,  and  which  I  deserve 
for  ever  to  lose  ? 

"  Behold  me,  0  Lord  God,  falling  down  at  thy  feet. 
Behold  me  pleading  guilty  in  thy  presence,  and  sur- 
rendering myself  to  that  justice  which  I  cannot  es- 
cape. I  have  not  one  word  io  offer  in  my  own  vin- 
dication, in  my  own  excuse.  -  Words,  far  from  being 
able  to  clear  up  my  innocence,  can  never  sufficiently 


PRAYER  FOR  ONE  FALLEN  INTO  SIN.    34D 

describe  the  enormity  and  demerit  of  my  sin.    Tliou, 

0  Lord,  and  thou  only,  knowest  to  the  full,  how  hein- 
ous and  how  aggravated  it  is.     Thine  infinite  under- 
standing alone  can  fathom  the  infinite  depth  of  its 
malignity.     I  am,  on  many  accounts,  most  unable  to 
do  it.     I  cannot  conceive  the  glory  of  thy  sacred  maj- 
esty, whose  authority  I  have  despised,  nor  the  num- 
ber and  variety  of  those  mercies  which  I  have  sinned 
against.     I  cannot  conceive  the  value  of  the  blood  of 
thy  dear  Son,  which  I  have  ungratefully  trampled 
under  my  feet ;  nor  the  dignity  of  that  blessed  Spirit 
of  thine,  whose  agency  I  have,  as  far  as  I  could,  been 
endeavoring  to  oppose,  and  whose  work  I  have  been, 
as  with  all  my  might,  laboring  to  undo,  and  to  tear 
up,  as  it  were,  that  plantation  of  his  grace  which  I 
should  rather  have  been  willing  to  have  guarded  with 
my  life,  and  watered  with  my  blood.     0  the  baseness 
and  madness  of  my  conduct,  that  I  should  thus,  as 
it  were,  rend  open  the  wounds  of  my  soul,  of  which 

1  had  died  long  ere  this,  had  not  thine  own  hand 
applied  a  remedy,  had  not  thine  only  Son  bled  to 
prepare  it ;  that  I  should  violate  the  covenant  I  had 
made  with  thee  by  sacrifice,  Psalm  50  :  5,  by  the 
memorials  of  such  a  sacrifice  too,  even  of  Jesus  my 
Lord,  whereby  I  am  become  guilty  of  his  body  and 
blood,  1  Cor.  1 1  :  27  ;  that  I  should  bring  such  dis- 
honor upon  religion  too,  by  so  unsuitable  a  walk, 
and  perhaps  open  the  mouths  of  its  greatest  enemies 


350  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

to  insult  it  upon  my  account,  and  prejudice  some 
against  it  to  their  everlasting  destruction. 

"  I  wonder,  0  Lord  God,  that  I  am  here  to  own 
all  this.  I  wonder  that  thou  hast  not  long  ago  ap- 
peared as  a  swift  witness  against  me,  Mai.  3  :  5,  that 
thou  hast  not  discharged  the  thunderbolts  of  thy 
flaming  wrath  against  me,  and  crushed  me  into  hell ; 
making  me  there  a  terror  to  all  about  me,  as  well  as 
to  myself,  by  a  vengeance  and  ruin  to  be  distin- 
guished even  there,  where  all  are  miserable,  and  all 
hopeless. 

"0  God,  thy  patience  is  marvellous.  But  how 
much  more  marvellous  is  thy  grace,  which,  after  all 
this,  invites  me  to  thee.  While  I  am  here  giving 
judgment  against  myself  that  I  deserve  to  die,  to  die 
for  ever,  thou  art  sending  me  the  words  of  everlast- 
ing life,  and  '  calling  me,  as  a  backsliding  child,  to 
return  unto  thee.'  Jer.  3  :  22.  Behold,  therefore, 

0  Lord,  invited  by  thy  word,  and  encouraged  by  thy 
grace,  I  come ;  and  great  as  my  transgressions  are, 

1  humbly  beseech  thee  freely  to  pardon  them ;  be- 
cause I  know,  that  though  '  my  sins  have  reached 
unto  heaven,'  Rev.  18  :  5,  and  are  'lifted  up  even 
unto  the  skies,'  Jer.  51  :  9,  'thy  mercy,  0  Lord,  is 
above  the  heavens.'     Psalm  108  : 4.     Extend  that 
mercy  to  me,  0  heavenly  Father,  and  display,  in 
this  illustrious  instance,  the  riches  of  thy  grace  and 
the  pre valency  of  thy  Son's  blood  :  for  surely,  if  such 


PRAYER  FOR  ONE  FALLEN  INTO  SIN.   35] 

crimson  sins  as  mine  may  be  made  '  white  as  snow 
and  as  wool,'  Isaiah  1  :  18,  and  if  such  a  revolter  as 
I  am  be  brought  to  eternal  glory,  earth  must,  so  far 
as  it  is  known,  be  filled  with  wonder,  and  heaven 
with  praise  ;  and  the  greatest  sinner  may  cheerfully 
apply  for  pardon,  if  I,  '  the  chief  of  sinners,'  find  it. 
And  0,  that  when  1  have  lain  mourning,  and  as  it 
were  bleeding  at  thy  feet,  as  long  as  thou  thinkest 
proper,  thou  wouldst  at  length  'heal  this  soul  of 
mine '  which  has  sinned  against  thee,  Psalm  41:4, 
and  '  give  me  beauty  for  ashes,  the  oil  of  joy  for 
mourning,  and  the  garment  of  praise  for  the  spirit 
of  heaviness.'  I?a.  61:3.  0  that  thou  wouldst  at 
length  *  restore  unto  me  the  joy  of  thy  salvation,  and 
make  me  to  hear  songs  of  gladness,  that  the  bones 
which  thou  hast  broken  may  rejoice.'  Psa.  51:8,  12. 
Then,  when  a  sense  of  thy  forgiving  love  is  shed 
abroad  upon  my  heart,  and  it  is  cheered  with  the 
voice  of  pardon,  I  will  proclaim  thy  grace  to  others ; 
{I  will  teach  transgressors  thy  ways,  and  sinners 
shall  be  converted  unto  thee,'  Psalm  51  :  13  :  those 
that  have  been  backsliding  from  thee  shall  be  en- 
couraged to  seek  thee,  by  my  happy  experience, 
which  I  will  gladly  proclaim  for  thy  glory,  though 
it  be  to  my  own  shame  and  confusion  of  face.  And 
may  this  'joy  of  the  Lord  be  my  strength,'  JSTeh. 
8  :  10,  so  that  in  it  I  may  serve  thee  henceforward 
with  a  vigor  and  zeal  far  beyond  what  I  have  hitherto 


352  RISE  AND   PROGRESS. 

known.  This  I  would  ask  with  all  humhle  submis- 
sion to  thy  will,  for  I  presume  not  to  insist  upon  it. 
If  thou  shouldst  see  fit  to  make  me  a  warning  to 
others,  by  appointing  that  I  should  walk  all  my  days 
in  darkness,  and  at  last  die  under  a  cloud,  '  thy  will 
be  done.'  But,  0  God,  extend  mercy,  for  thy  Son's 
sake,  to  this  sinful  soul  at  last,  and  give  me  some 
place,  though  it  were  at  the  feet  of  all  thy  other 
servants,  in  the  regions  of  glory.  0  bring  me  at 
length,  though  it  should  be  through  the  gloomiest 
valley  that  any  one  ever  passed,  into  that  blessed 
world,  where  I  shall  depart  from  God  no  more,  where 
I  shall  wound  my  own  conscience,  and  dishonor  thy 
holy  name  no  more.  Then  shall  my  tongue  be 
loosed,  how  long  soever  it  might  here  be  bound 
under  the  confusion  of  guilt ;  and  immortal  praises 
shall  be  paid  to  that  victorious  blood  which  has 
redeemed  such  an  infamous  slave  of  sin  as  I  must 
acknowledge  myself  to  be,  and  brought  me,  from 
returns  into  bondage  and  repeated  pollution,  to  share 
the  dignity  and  holiness  of  those  who  are  '  kings  and 
priests  unto  God.'  Rev.  1:6.  Amen." 


HIDINGS  OF  GOD'S   FACE.  353 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE  CASE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  UNDER  THE  HIDINGS  OF 
GOD'S  FACE. 

1.  The  phrase  scriptural. — 2.  It  signifies  the  withdrawing 
the  tokens  of  the  divine  favor. — 3.  Chiefly  as  to  spiritual  con- 
siderations.— 4.  This  may  become  the  case  of  any  Christian. — 
5.  And  will  be  found  a  very  sorrowful  one. — 6.  The  following 
directions,  therefore,  are  given  to  those  who  suppose  it  to  be 
their  own.  To  inquire  whether  it  be  indeed  a  case  of  spiritual 
distress,  or  whether  a  disconsolate  frame  may  not  proceed  from 
indisposition  of  body. — 7.  Or  difficulties  as  to  worldly  circum- 
stances.— 8,  9.  If  it  be  found  to  be  indeed  such  as  the  title  of 
the  chapter  proposes,  be  advised  to  consider  it  as  a  merciful 
dispensation  of  God  to  awaken  and  bestir  the  soul,  and  excite 
to  a  strict  examination  of  conscience,  and  reformation  of  what 
has  been  amiss. — 10.  To  be  humble  and  patient  while  the 
trial  continues. — 11.  To  go  on  steadily  in  the  way  of  duty. — 
12.  To  renew  a  believing  application  to  the  blood  of  Jesus. 
An  humble  supplication  for  one  under  these  mournful  exercises 
of  mind,  when  they  are  found  to  proceed  from  the  spiritual 
cause  supposed. 

1.  THERE  is  a  case  which  often  occurs  in  the 
Christian  life,  which  they  who  accustom  themselves 
much  to  the  exercise  of  devotion  have  been  used  to 
call  the  "  hiding  of  Grod's  face."  It  is  a  phrase  bor- 
rowed from  the  word  of  God,  which  I  hope  may 
shelter  it  from  contempt  at  the  first  hearing.  It  will 

Rise  &od  Prog.  23 


354  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

be  my  business  in  this  chapter  to  state  it  as  plainly 
as  I  can,  and  then  to  give  some  advice  as  to  your 
own  conduct  when  you  fall  into  it,  as  it  is  very  prob- 
able you  may  before  you  have  finished  your  journey 
through  this  wilderness. 

2.  The  meaning  of  it  may  partly  be  understood 
by  the  opposite  phrase  of  God's  "  causing  his  face 
to  shine  upon  a  person,  or  lifting  up  upon  him  the 
light  of  his  countenance."  This  seems  to  carry  in  it 
an  allusion  to  the  pleasant  and  delightful  appearance 
which  the  face  of  a  friend  has,  and  especially  if  in 
a  superior  relation  of  life,  when  he  converses  with 
those  whom  he  loves  and  delights  in.  Thus  Job, 
when  speaking  of  the  regard  paid  him  by  his  at- 
tendants, says,  "  If  I  smiled  upon  them,  they  believed 
it  not,  and  the  light  of  my  countenance  they  cast  not 
down,"  Job  29  :  24 ;  that  is,  they  were  careful,  in 
such  agreeable  circumstances,  to  do  nothing  to  dis- 
please me,  or,  as  we  speak,  to  cloud  my  brow. 
And  David,  when  expressing  his  desire  of  the  mani- 
festation of  God's  favor  to  him,  says,  "  Lord,  lift 
thou  up  the  light  of  thy  countenance  upon  me ;"  and, 
as  the  effect  of  it,  declares,  "  thou  hast  put  gladness 
into  my  heart,  more  than  if  corn  and  wine  increased." 
Psalm  4  :  6,  7.  Nor  is  it  impossible,  that  in  this 
phrase,  as  used  by  David,  there  may  be  some  allu- 
sion to  the  bright  shining  forth  of  the  Shekinah,  that 
is,  the  lustre  which  dwelt  in  the  cloud  as  the  visible 


HIDINGS   OF  GOD'S   FACE.  355 

sign  of  the  divine  presence  with  Israel,  which  God 
was  pleased  peculiarly  to  manifest  upon  some  public 
occasions,  as  a  token  of  his  favor  and  acceptance. 
On  the  other  hand,  therefore,  for  God  "  to  hide  his 
face,"  must  imply  his  withholding  the  tokens  of  his 
favor,  and  must  be  esteemed  a  mark  of  his  displeas- 
ure. Thus  Isaiah  uses  it  :  "  Your  iniquities  have 
separated  between  you  and  your  God,  and  your  sins 
have  hid  his  face  from  you,  that  he  will  not  hear." 
Isaiah  59  :  2.  And  again,  "  Thou  hast  hid  thy  face 
from  us,"  as  not  regarding  the  calamities  we  suffer, 
"  and  hast  consumed  us,  because  of  our  iniquities." 
Isaiah  64  :  7.  So  likewise,  for  God  "  to  hide  his  face 
from  our  sins,"  Psalm  51  :  9,  signifies  to  overlook 
them,  and  to  take  no  farther  notice  of  them.  The 
same  idea  is,  at  other  times,  expressed  by  "  God's 
hiding  his  eyes,"  Isaiah  1  :  15,  from  persons  of  a 
character  disagreeable  to  him,  wrhen  they  come  to 
address  him  with  their  petitions,  not  vouchsafing,  as 
it  were,  to  look  towards  them.  This  is  plainly  the 
scriptural  sense  of  the  word  ;  and  agreeably  to  this, 
±t  is  generally  used  by  Christians  in  our  day,  and 
every  thing  which  seems  a  token  of  divine  displeasure 
towards  them  is  expressed  by  it. 

3.  It  is  farther  to  be  observed  here,  that  the 
things  which  they  judge  to  be  manifestations  of  di- 
vine favor  towards  them,  or  complacency  in  them, 
are  not  only,  nor  chiefly  of  a  temporal  nature,  or 


356  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

such  as  merely  relate  to  the  blessings  of  this  animal 
and  perishing  life.  David,  though  the  promises  of 
the  law  had  a  continual  reference  to  such,  yet  was 
taught  to  look  farther,  and  describes  them  as  prefer- 
able to,  and  therefore  plainly  distinct  from  "  the 
blessings  of  the  corn-floor  or  the  wine-press."  Psalm 
4:7.  And  if  you  whom  I  am  now  addressing  do 
not  know  them  to  be  so,  it  is  plain  you  are  quite 
ignorant  of  the  subject  we  are  inquiring  into,  and 
indeed  have  yet  to  learn  the  first  lessons  of  true 
religion.  All  that  David  says,  of  "beholding  the 
beauty  of  the  Lord,"  Psalm  27  :  4,  or  being  "  satis- 
fied as  with  marrow  and  fatness,  when  he  remem- 
bered him  upon  his  bed,"  Psalm  63  :  5,  6,  as  well  as 
"  with  the  goodness  of  his  house,  even  of  his  holy 
temple,"  Psalm  65  :  4,  is  to  be  taken  in  the  same 
sense,  and  can  need  very  little  explication  to  the 
truly  experienced  soul.  But  those  who  have  known 
the  light  of  God's  countenance,  and  the  shinings  of 
his  face,  will,  in  proportion  to  the  degree  of  that 
knowledge,  be  able  to  form  some  notion  of  the  hiding 
of  his  face,  or  the  withdrawing  of  the  tokens  he  has 
given  his  people  of  his  presence  and  favor,  which 
sometimes  greatly  imbitters  prosperity  ;  as,  where 
the  contrary  is  found,  it  sweetens  affliction,  and  often 
swallows  up  the  sense  of  it. 

4.  And  give  me  leave  to  remind  you,  my  Chris- 
tian friend — for  under  that  character  I  now  address 


HIDINGS  OF  GOD'S  FACE,  357 

my  reader — that  to  be  thus  deprived  of  the  sense  of 
God's  love,  and  of  the  tokens  of  his  favor,  may  soon 
be  the  case  with  you,  though  you  may  now  have  the 
pleasure  to  see  the  candle  of  the  Lord  shining  upon 
you,  or  though  it  may  even  seem  to  be  sunshine  and 
high  noon  in  your  soul.  You  may  lose  your  lively 
views  of  the  divine  perfections  and  glory,  in  the 
contemplation  of  which  you  now  find  that  inward 
satisfaction.  You  may  think  of  the  divine  wisdom 
and  power,  of  the  divine  mercy  and  fidelity,  as  well 
as  of  his  righteousness  and  holiness,  and  feel  little 
inward  complacency  of  soul  in  the  view :  it  may  be, 
with  respect  to  any  lively  impressions,  as  if  it  were 
the  contemplation  merely  of  a  common  object.  It 
may  seem  to  you  as  if  you  had  lost  all  idea  of  those 
important  words,  though  the  view  has  sometimes 
swallowed  up  your  whole  soul  in  transports  of  aston- 
ishment, admiration,  and  love.  You  may  lose  your 
delightful  sense  of  the  divine  favor.  It  may  be 
matter  of  great  and  sad  doubt  with  you,  whether 
you  do  indeed  belong  to  God ;  and  all  the  work  of 
his  blessed  Spirit  may  be  so  veiled  and  shaded  in  the 
soul,  that  the  peculiar  characters  by  which  the  hand 
of  that  sacred  Agent  might  be  distinguished,  shall 
be  in  a  great  measure  lost ;  and  you  may  be  ready 
to  imagine  you  have  only  deluded  yourself  in  all  the 
former  hopes  you  have  entertained.  In  consequence 
of  this,  those  ordinances  in  which  you  now  rejoice, 


358  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

may  grow  very  uncomfortable  to  you,  even  when  you 
do  indeed  desire  communion  with  God  in  them.  You 
may  hear  the  most  delightful  evangelical  truths 
opened,  you  may  hear  the  privileges  of  God's  chil- 
dren most  affectionately  represented,  and  not  be 
aware  that  you  have  any  part  or  lot  in  the  matter ; 
and  from  that  very  coldness  and  insensibility  may  be 
drawing  a  farther  argument  that  you  have  nothing 
to  do  with  them.  And  then  "your  heart"  may 
"meditate  terror,"  Isa.  33  :  18,  and  under  the  dis- 
tress that  overwhelms  you,  your  dearest  enjoyments 
may  be  reflected  upon  as  adding  to  the  weight  of  it, 
and  making  it  more  sensible,  while  you  consider  that 
you  had  once  such  a  taste  for  these  things,  and  have 
now  lost  it  all.  So  that  perhaps  it  may  seem  to  you, 
that  they  who  never  felt  any  thing  at  all  of  religious 
impressions  are  happier  than  you,  or  at  least  are  less 
miserable.  You  may,  perhaps,  in  these  melancholy 
hours,  even  doubt  whether  you  have  ever  prayed  at 
all,  and  whether  all  that  you  called  your  enjoyment 
of  God,  was  not  some  false  delight,  excited  by  the 
great  enemy  of  souls,  to  make  you  apprehend  that 
your  state  was  good,  that  so  you  might  continue  his 
more  secure  prey. 

5.  Such  as  this  may  be  your  case  for  a  considera- 
ble time;  and  ordinances  may  be  attended  in  vain, 
and  the  presence  of  God  may  be  in  vain  sought  in 
them.  You  may  pour  out  your  soul  in  private,  and 


HIDINGS  OF   GOD'S   FACE.  359 

then  come  to  public  worship,  and  find  little  satisfac- 
tion in  either,  but  be  forced  to  take  up  the  Psalmist's 
complaint,  "My  God,  I  cry  in  the  daytime,  but  thou 
hearest  not ;  and  in  the  night  season,  and  am  not 
silent,"  Psa.  22  :  2;  or  that  of  Job,  "  Behold,  I  go 
forward,  but  he  is  not  there;  and  backward,  but  I 
cannot  perceive  him:  on  the  left  hand,  where  he 
doth  work,  but  I  cannot  behold  him :  he  hideth  him- 
self on  the  right  hand,  that  I  cannot  see  him."  Job 
23  :  8,  9.  So  that  all  which  looked  like  religion  in 
your  mind,  shall  seem  as  it  were  to  be  melted  into 
grief,  or  chilled  into  fear,  or  crushed  into  a  deep  sense 
of  your  own  un worthiness ;  in  consequence  of  which, 
you  shall  not  dare  so  much  as  lift  up  your  eyes  before 
God,  and  be  almost  ashamed  to  take  your  place  in  a 
worshipping  assembly  among  any  that  you  think  his 
servants.  I  have  known  this  to  be  the  case  of  some 
excellent  Christians,  whose  improvements  in  religion 
have  been  distinguished,  and  whom  God  hath  hon- 
ored above  many  of  their  brethren  in  what  he  hath 
done  for  them,  and  by  them.  Give  me  leave,  there- 
fore, having  thus  described  it,  to  offer  you  some  plain 
advice  with  regard  to  it ;  and  let  not  that  be  im- 
puted to  enthusiastic  fancy  which  proceeds  from  an 
intimate  and  frequent  view  of  facts  on  the  one  hand, 
and  from  a  sincere,  affectionate  desire  on  the  other, 
to  relieve  the  tender,  pious  heart,  in  so  desolate  a 
state.  At  least,  I  am  persuaded  the  attempt  will  not 


360  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

be  overlooked  or  disapproved  by  "the  great  Shepherd 
of  the  sheep,"  Heb.  13  :  20,  who  has  charged  us  to 
"  comfort  the  feeble-minded."  1  Thess.  5  :  14. 

6.  And  here  I  would  first  advise  you  most  care- 
fully to  inquire  whether  your  present  distress  does 
indeed  arise  from  causes  which  are  truly  spiritual, 
or  whether  it  may  not  rather  have  its  foundation  in 
some  disorder  of  the  body,  or  in  the  circumstances 
of  life  in  which  you  are  providentially  placed,  which 
may  break  your  spirits  and  deject  your  mind.  The 
influence  of  the  inferior  part  of  our  nature  on  the 
nobler,  the  immortal  spirit,  while  we  continue  in 
this  embodied  state,  is  so  evident,  that  no  attentive 
person  can,  in  the  general,  fail  to  observe  it ;  and 
yet  there  are  cases  in  which  it  seems  not  to  be  suf- 
ficiently considered ;  and  perhaps  your  own  may  be 
one  of  them.  The  state  of  the  blood  is  often  such  as 
necessarily  to  suggest  gloomy  ideas,  even  in  dreams, 
and  to  indispose  the  soul  for  taking  pleasure  in  any 
thing :  and  when  it  is  so,  why  should  it  be  imagined 
to  proceed  from  any  peculiar  divine  displeasure,  if 
the  soul  does  not  find  its  usual  delight  in  religion  ? 
Or  why  should  God  be  thought  to  have  departed  from 
us,  because  he  suffers  natural  causes  to  produce  nat- 
ural effects,  without  interposing,  by  miracle,  to  break 
the  connection?  When  this  is  the  case,  the  help  of 
the  physician  is  to  be  sought,  rather  than  that  of  the 
divine ;  or  at  least,  by  all  means,  together  with  it  ; 


HIDINGS   OF   GOD'S   FACE.  3G1 

and  medicine,  diet,  exercise,  and  air,  may  in  a  few 
weeks  effect  what  the  strongest  reasonings,  the  most 
pathetic  exhortations  or  consolations  might  for  many 
months  have  attempted  in  vain. 

7.  In  other  instances,  the  dejection  and  feebleness 
of  the  mind  may  arise  from  something  uncomfortable 
in  our  worldly  circumstances.     These  may  cloud  as 
well  as  distract  the  thoughts  and  imbitter  the  temper, 
and  thus  render  us  in  a  great  degree  unfit  for  religious 
services  and  pleasures ;  and  when  it  is  so,  the  remedy 
is  to  be  sought  in  submission  to  divine  Providence, 
in  abstracting  our  affections  as  far  as  possible  from 
the  present  world,  in  a  prudent  care  to  ease  ourselves 
of  the  burden  so  far  as  we  can,  by  moderating  un- 
necessary expenses,  and  by  diligent  application  to 
business,  in  humble  dependence  on  the  divine  bless- 
ing ;  in  the  meantime,  endeavoring,  by  faith,  to  look 
up  to  Him  who  sometimes  suffers  his  children  to  be 
brought  into  such  difficulties,  that  he  may  endear 
himself  more  sensibly  to  them  by  the  method  he 
shall  take  for  their  relief. 

8.  On  the  principles  here  laid  down,  it  may  per- 
haps appear,  on  inquiry,  that  the  distress  complained 
of  may  have  a  foundation  very  different  from  what 
was  at  first  supposed.    But  where  the  health  is  sound, 
and  the  circumstances  easy ;  when  the  animal  spirits 
are  disposed  for  gayety  and  entertainment,  while  all 
taste  for  religious  pleasure  is  in  a  manner  gone ; 


362  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

when  the  soul  is  seized  with  a  kind  of  lethargic  in- 
sensibility, or  what  I  had  almost  called  a  paralytic 
weakness  with  respect  to  every  religious  exercise, 
even  though  there  should  not  he  that  deep  terrifying 
distress,  or  pungent  amazement,  which  I  before  rep- 
resented as  the  effect  of  melancholy,  nor  that  anxiety 
about  the  accommodations  of  life  which  strait  cir- 
cumstances naturally  produce ;  I  would  in  that  case 
vary  my  advice,  and  urge  you  with  all  possible  at- 
tention and  impartiality,  to  search  into  the  cause 
which  has  brought  upon  you  that  great  evil  under 
which  you  justly  mourn.  And  probably,  in  the  gen- 
eral, the  cause  is  sin — some  secret  sin,  which  has  not 
been  discovered  or  observed  by  the  eye  of  the  world ; 
for  enormities  that  draw  on  them  the  observation  and 
censure  of  others,  will  probably  fall  under  the  case 
mentioned  in  the  former  chapter,  as  they  must  be  in- 
stances of  known  and  deliberate  guilt.  Now  the  eye 
of  God  hath  seen  these  evils  which  have  escaped  the 
notice  of  your  fellow-creatures :  and  in  consequence 
of  this  care  to  conceal  them  from  others,  while  you 
could  not  but  know  they  were  open  to  him,  God  has 
seen  himself  in  a  peculiar  manner  affronted  and  in- 
jured, I  had  almost  said  insulted  by  them ;  and  hence 
his  righteous  displeasure.  0,  let  that  never  be  for- 
gotten, which  is  so  plainly  said,  so  commonly  known, 
so  familiar  to  almost  every  religious  ear,  yet  too  lit- 
tle felt  by  any  of  our  hearts:  "Your  iniquities  have 


HIDINGS    OF   GOD'S   FACE.  3G3 

separated  between  you  and  your  God,  and  your  sins 
have  hid  his  face  from  you,  that  he  will  not  hear." 
Isa.  59  :  1,  2.  And  this  is,  on  the  whole,  a  merciful 
dispensation  of  God,  though  it  may  seem  severe :  re- 
gard it  not,  therefore,  merely  as  your  calamity,  but 
as  intended  to  awaken  you,  that  you  may  not  content 
yourself  even  with  lying  in  tears  of  humiliation  be- 
fore the  Lord,  but,  like  Joshua,  rise  and  exert  your- 
self vigorously,  to  "put  away  from  you  that  accursed 
thing,"  whatever  it  be.  Let  this  be  your  immediate 
and  earnest  care,  that  your  pride  may  be  humbled, 
that  your  watchfulness  may  be  maintained,  that  your 
affections  to  the  world  may  be  deadened,  and  that, 
on  the  whole,  your  fitness  for  heaven  may  in  every 
respect  be  increased.  These  are  the  designs  of  your 
heavenly  Father,  and  let  it  be  your  great  concern  to 
cooperate  with  them. 

9.  Receive  it  therefore,  on  the  whole,  as  the  most 
important  advice  that  can  be  given  you,  immediately 
to  enter  on  a  strict  examination  of  your  conscience. 
Attend  to  its  gentlest  whispers.  If  a  suspicion  arises 
in  your  mind  that  any  thing  has  not  been  right,  trace 
that  suspicion ;  search  into  every  secret  folding  of  your 
heart;  improve  to  the  purposes  of  a  fuller  discovery 
the  advice  of  your  friends,  the  reproaches  of  your 
enemies  ;  recollect  for  what  your  heart  hath  smitten 
you  at  the  table  of  the  Lord,  for  what  it  would  smite 
you  if  you  were  upon  a  dying  bed,  and  within  this 


364  RISE    AND  PROGRESS. 

hour  to  enter  on  eternity.  When  you  have  made  any 
discovery,  note  it  down;  and  go  on  in  your  search 
till  you  can  say,  These  are  the  remaining  corruptions 
of  my  heart,  these  are  the  sins  and  follies  of  my  life ; 
this  have  I  neglected ;  this  have  I  done  amiss.  And 
when  the  account  is  as  complete  as  you  can  make  it, 
set  yourself,  in  the  strength  of  God,  to  a  serious  ref- 
ormation ;  or  rather,  begin  the  reformation  of  every 
thing  that  seems  amiss,  as  soon  as  ever  you  discover 
it ;  "  Return  to  the  Almighty,  and  thou  shalt  be  built 
up ;  put  iniquity  far  from  thy  tabernacle,  and  then 
shalt  thou  have  thy  delight  in  the  Almighty,  and 
shalt  lift  up  thy  face  unto  God.  Thou  shalt  make 
thy  prayer  unto  him,  and  he  shall  hear  thee ;  thou 
shalt  pay  thy  vows  unto  him,  and  his  light  shall  shine 
upon  thy  ways."  Job  22  :  23,  26,  27. 

10.  In  the  meantime,  be  waiting  for  God  with  the 
deepest  humility,  and  submit  yourself  to  the  disci- 
pline of  your  heavenly  Father,  acknowledging  his 
justice,  and  hoping  in  his  mercy :  even  when  your 
conscience  is  least  severe  in  its  remonstrances,  and 
discovers  nothing  more  than  the  common  infirmities 
of  God's  people,  yet  still  bow  yourself  down  before 
him,  and  own  that  so  many  are  the  evils  of  your  best 
days,  so  many  the  imperfections  of  your  best  services, 
that  by  them  you  have  deserved  all,  and  more  than 
all  that  you  suffer ;  deserved  not  only  that  your  sun 
should  be  clouded,  but  that  it  should  go  down  and 


HIDINGS    OF   GOD'S    FACE.  3(35 

arise  no  more,  but  leave  your  soul  in  a  state  of  ever- 
lasting darkness.  And  while  the  shade  continues, 
be  not  impatient.  Fret  not  yourself  in  any  wise,  but 
rather,  with  a  holy  calmness  and  gentleness  of  soul, 
"wait  on  the  Lord."  Psa.  37  :  8,  34.  Be  willing 
to  stay  his  time,  willing  to  bear  his  frown,  in  humble 
hope  that  he  will  at  length  "return  and  have  com- 
passion on  you."  Jer.  12  :  15.  He  has  not  utterly 
forgotten  to  be  gracious,  nor  resolved  that  "he  will 
be  favorable  no  more."  Psa.  77  : 7,  9.  "For  the 
Lord  will  not  cast  off  for  ever ;  but  though  he  cause 
grief,  yet  will  he  have  compassion  according  to  the 
multitude  of  his  mercies."  Lam.  3  :31,  32.  It  is 
comparatively  but  "for  a  small  moment  that  he  hides 
his  face  from  you;"  but  you  may  humbly  hope,  that 
with  great  mercies  he  will  gather  you,  and  that  "  with 
everlasting  kindness  he  will  have  mercy  on  you." 
Isa.  54  :  7,  8.  These  suitable  words  are  not  mine,  but 
his ;  and  they  wear  this,  as  in  the  very  front  of  them, 
"That  a  soul  under  the  hidings  of  God's  face  may 
at  last  be  one  whom  he  will  gather,  and  to  whom  he 
will  extend  everlasting  favor." 

11.  But  while  the  darkness  continues,  "go  on  in 
the  way  of  your  duty."  Continue  the  use  of  means 
and  ordinances :  read  and  meditate :  pray,  yes,  and 
sing  the  praises  of  God  too,  though  it  may  be  with 
a  heavy  heart.  Follow  the  "footsteps  of  his  flock," 
Cant.  1:8;  you  may  perhaps  meet  the  Shepherd  of 


3G6  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

souls  ill  doing  it.  Place  yourself  at  least  in  his  way. 
It  is  possible  you  may  by  this  means  get  a  kind  look 
from  him ;  and  one  look,  one  turn  of  thought,  which 
may  happen  in  a  moment,  may,  as  it  were,  create  a 
heaven  in  your  soul  at  once.  Go  to  the  table  of  the 
Lord.  If  you  cannot  rejoice,  go  and  mourn  there. 
Go  and  "mourn  for  that  Saviour  whom,"  by  your 
sins,  "you  have  pierced,"  Zech.  12  :  10  ;  go  and  la- 
ment the  breaches  of  that  covenant  which  you  have 
there  so  often  confirmed.  Christ  may  perhaps  make 
himself  known  unto  you  "in  the  breaking  of  the 
bread,"  Luke  24  :  35,  and  you  may  find,  to  your  sur- 
prise, that  he  hath  been  near  you,  when  you  imagin* 
ed  he  was  at  the  greatest  distance  from  you — -near 
you,  when  you  thought  you  were  cast  out  from  his 
presence.  Seek  your  comfort  in  such  enjoyments  as 
these,  and  not  in  the  vain  amusements  of  this  world, 
and  in  the  pleasures  of  sense.  I  shall  never  forget 
that  affectionate  expression,  which  I  am  well  assured 
broke  out  from  an  eminently  pious  heart,  then  almost 
ready  to  break  under  its  sorrows  of  this  kind  :  "Lord, 
if  I  may  not  enjoy  thee,  let  me  enjoy  nothing  else; 
but  go  down  mourning  after  thee  to  the  grave."  I 
wondered  not  to  hear,  that  almost  as  soon  as  the  sen- 
timent had  been  breathed  out  before  God  in  prayer, 
the  burden  was  taken  off,  and  "the  joy  of  God's  sal- 
vation restored." 

12.  I  shall  add  but  one  advice  more,  and  that  is? 


HIDINGS  OF  GOD'S  FACE.  3(J7 

that  "  you  renew  your  application  to  the  blood  of  Je- 
sus, through  whom  the  reconciliation  between  God 
and  your  soul  has  been  accomplished."  It  is  he  that 
is  our  peace,  and  by  his  blood  it  is  that  "  we  are 
made  nigh,"  Eph.  2  :  13,  14  ;  it  is  in  him,  as  the 
beloved  of  his  soul,  that  God  declares  he  is  well 
pleased,  Matt.  3:17;  and  it  is  in  him  that  "  we  are 
made  accepted,  to  the  glory  of  his  grace."  Eph.  1:6. 
Go,  therefore,  0  Christian,  and  apply  by  faith  to  a 
crucified  Saviour ;  go  and  apply  to  him,  as  to  a  mer- 
ciful high-priest,  "  and  pour  out  thy  complaint  before 
him,  and  show  before  him  thy  trouble."  Psa.  142  : 2. 
Lay  open  the  distress  and  anguish  of  thy  soul  to  Him, 
who  once  knew  what  it  was  to  say — 0  astonishing, 
that  He  should  ever  have  said  it — "  My  God,  my 
God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?"  Matt.  27  :  46. 
Look  up  for  pity  and  relief  to  him,  who  himself  suf- 
fered, being  not  only  tempted,  but  with  regard  to 
sensible  manifestations,  deserted,  that  he  might  thus 
know  how  to  pity  those  that  are  in  such  a  melan- 
choly case,  and  be  ready,  as  well  as  able,  "  to  succor 
them."  Heb.  2  :  18.  "He  is  Immanuel,  God  with 
us,"  Matt.  1  :  23  ;  and  it  is  only  in  and  through  him 
that  his  Father  shines  forth  upon  us  with  the  mild- 
est beams  of  mercy  and  of  love.  Let  it  be,  therefore, 
your  immediate  care  to  renew  your  acquaintance 
\vith  him.  Review  the  records  of  his  life  and  death  ; 
and  when  you  do  so,  surely  you  will  feel  a  secret 


1 

368  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

sweetness  diffusing  itself  over  your  soul.  You  will 
be  brought  into  a  calm,  gentle,  silent  frame,  in  which 
faith  and  love  will  operate  powerfully,  and  God  may 
probably  cause  "the  still  small  voice"  of  his  com- 
forting Spirit  to  be  heard,  1  Kings,  19  :  12,  till  your 
soul  burst  out  into  a  song  of  praise,  and  you  are 
f<  made  glad  according  to  the  days  in  which  you  have 
been  afflicted."  Psa.  90  : 15.  In  the  meantime,  such 
language  as  the  following  supplication  speaks,  may 
be  suitable. 

AN  HUMBLE   SUPPLICATION  FOR  ONE  UNDER  THE  HID- 
INGS OF  GOD'S  FACE. 

"  Blessed  God,  '  with  thee  is  the  fountain  of  life' 
and  of  happiness.  Psalm  36  :  9.  I  adore  thy  name 
that  I  have  ever  tasted  of  thy  streams ;  that  I  have 
ever  had  the  peculiar  pleasure  arising  from  the  light 
of  thy  countenance,  and  the  shedding  abroad  of  thy 
love  in  my  soul.  But,  alas,  these  delightful  seasons 
are  now  to  me  no  more ;  and  the  remembrance  of 
them  engages  me  to  <  pour  out  my  soul  within  me.' 
Psalm  42  :  4.  I  would  come,  as  I  have  formerly 
done,  and  call  thee,  with  the  same  endearment,  '  my 
Father  and  my  God ;'  but  alas,  I  know  not  how  to 
do  it.  Guilt  and  fears  arise,  and  forbid  the  delight- 
ful language.  I  seek  thee,  0  Lord,  but  I  seek  in 
vain.  I  would  pray,  but  my  lips  are  sealed  up.  I 
would  read  thy  word,  but  all  the  promises  of  it  are 


HIDINGS  OF  GOD'S  FACE.  3(59 

veiled  from  mine  eyes.  I  frequent  those  ordinances 
which  have  been  formerly  most  nourishing  and  com- 
fortable to  my  soul ;  but  alas,  they  are  only  the 
shadows  of  ordinances ;  the  substance  is  gone ;  the 
animating  spirit  is  fled,  and  leaves  them  now,  at 
best,  but  the  image  of  what  I  once  knew  them. 

"  But,  Lord,  hast  '  thou  cast  off  for  ever,  and  wilt 
thou  be  favorable  no  more?'  Psalm  77  :  7.  Hast 
thou  in  awful  judgment  determined  that  my  soul 
must  be  left  to  a  perpetual  winter,  the  sad  emblem 
of  eternal  darkness  ?  Indeed,  I  deserve  it  should  bu 
so.  I  acknowledge,  0  Lord,  I  deserve  to  be  cast 
away  from  thy  presence  with  disdain,  to  be  sunk 
lower  than  I  am,  much  lower;  I  deserve  to  have 
*  the  shadow  of  death  upon  my  eyelids,'  Job  16  :  16, 
and  even  to  be  surrounded  with  the  thick  gloom  of 
the  infernal  prison.  But  hast  thou  not  raised  multi- 
tudes, who  have  *  deserved,  like  me,  to  be  delivered 
into  chains  of  darkness/  2  Pet.  2  :  4,  to  the  vision  of 
thy  glory  above,  where  no  cloud  can  ever  interpose 
between  thee  and  their  rejoicing  spirits  ?  *  Have 
mercy  upon  me,  0  Lord,  have  mercy  upon  me.'  Psa/ 
123  :  3.  And  though  my  iniquities  have  now  justly 
4  caused  thee  to  hide  thy  face  from  me,'  Isa.  59  :  2, 
yet  be  thou  rather  pleased,  agreeably  to  the  gracious 
language  of  thy  word,  '  to  hide  thy  face  from  my 
sins,  and  to  blot  out  all  my  iniquities.'  Psa.  51:9. 
Cheer  my  heart  with  the  tokens  of  thy  returning 

Rise  &  Proa.  24 


370  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

favor,  and  {  say  unto  my  soul,  I  am  thy  salvation,' 
Psalm  35  :  3. 

"  Remember,  0  Lord  God,  remember  that  dread- 
ful day,  in  which  Jesus  thy  dear  Son  endured  what 
my  sins  have  deserved.  Remember  that  agony,  in 
which  he  poured  out  his  soul  before  thee,  and  said, 
*  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?' 
Matt.  27  :  46.  Did  he  not,  0  Lord,  endure  all  this, 
that  humble  penitents  might,  through  him,  be  brought 
near  unto  thee,  and  might  behold  thee  with  pleasure, 
as  their  Father  and  their  God  ?  Thus  do  I  desire  to 
come  unto  thee.  Blessed  Saviour,  art  thou  not 
appointed  { to  give  unto  them  that  mourn  in  Zion, 
beauty  for  ashes,  the  oil  of  joy  for  mourning,  and  the 
garment  of  praise  for  the  spirit  of  heaviness  ?'  Isa. 
61:3.  0  wash  away  my  tears,  anoint  my  head 
with  '  the  oil  of  gladness,  and  clothe  me  with  the 
garments  of  salvation.'  Isa.  61  : 10. 

"  '  0  that  I  knew  where  I  might  find  thee.'  Job 
23  :  3.  0  that  I  knew  what  it  is  that  hath  engaged 
thee  to  depart  from  me.  I  am  *  searching  and  try- 
ing my  ways.'  Lam.  3  :  40.  0  that  thou  wouldst 
'  search  me,  and  know  my  heart ;  try  me,  and  know 
my  thoughts ;'  and  if  '  there  be  any  wicked  way  in 
me,'  discover  it,  and  '  lead  me  in  the  way  everlast- 
ing, Psalm  139  :  23,  24  ;  in  that  way  in  which  1 
may  find  rest  and  peace  'for  my  soul,'  Jer.  6  :  16, 
and  feel  the  discoveries  of  thy  love  in  Christ. 


HIDINGS   OF  GOD'S   FACE.  3/J 

"  0  God,  '  who  didst  command  the  light  to  shine 
out  of  darkness,'  2  Cor.  4  :  6,  speak  but  the  word, 
and  light  shall  dart  into  my  soul  at  once.  '  Open 
thou  my  lips,  and  my  mouth  shall  show  forth  thy 
praise,'  Psalm  51  :  15,  shall  burst  out  into  a  cheerful 
song,  which  shall  display,  before  those  whom  my 
present  dejections  may  have  discouraged,  the  pleas- 
ures and  supports  of  religion.  ^ 

"  Yet,  Lord,  on  the  whole,  I  submit  to  thy  will. 
If  it  is  thus  that  my  faith  must  be  exercised,  by 
walking  in  darkness  for  days,  and  months,  and  years 
to  come,  how  long  soever  they  may  seem,  how  long 
soever  they  may  be,  I  submit.  Still  will  I  adore 
thee  as  the  '  God  of  Israel,'  and  the  Saviour,  though 
'thou  art  a  God  that  hidest  thyself.'  Isa.  45  :  15. 
Still  will  I  '  trust  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  stay 
myself  upon  my  God,'  Isaiah  50  :  10 — 'trusting  in 
thee,  though  thou  slay  me,'  Job  13  :  15,  and  'wait- 
ing for  thee  more  than  they  that  watch  for  the 
morning ;  yea,  more  than  they  that  watch  for  the 
morning.'  Psa.  130  :  6.  Peradventure  '  in  the  even- 
ing time  it  may  be  light.'  Zech.  14  :  7.  I  know 
thou  hast  sometimes  manifested  thy  compassion  to 
thy  dying  servants,  and  given  them,  in  the  lowest 
ebb  of  their  natural  spirits,  a  full  tide  of  divine  glory  ; 
thus  turning  '  darkness  into  light  before  them.'  Isa. 
42  :  16.  So  may  it  please  thee  to  gild  'the  Valley 
of  the  Shadow  of  Death '  with  the  light  of  thy  pres- 


372  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

ence,  when  I  am  passing  it,  and  to  stretch  forth 
'thy  rod  and  thy  staff  to  comfort  me,'  Psalm  23  :  4, 
that  my  tremblings  may  cease,  and  the  gloom  may 
echo  with  songs  of  praise.  But  if  it  be  thy  sovereign 
pleasure,  that  distress  and  darkness  should  still  con- 
tinue to  the  last  motion  of  my  pulse,  and  the  last 
gasp  of  my  breath,  0  let  it  cease  with  the  parting 
struggle,  and  bring  me  to  that  light  which  is  sown 
for  the  righteous,  and  to  that  gladness  which  is  re- 
served '  for  the  upright  in  heart,'  Psalm  97:11;  to 
the  unclouded  regions  of  everlasting  splendor  arid 
joy,  where  the  full  anointings  of  thy  Spirit  shall  be 
poured  out  upon  all  thy  people,  and  thou  wilt  no 
more  *  hide  thy  face  from  any  of  them.'  Ezekiel 
39  :  29. 

"  This,  Lord,  is  '  thy  salvation  for  which  I  am 
waiting,'  Gen.  49  :  18  ;  and  while  I  feel  the  desires 
of  my  soul  drawn  out  after  it,  I  will  never  despair  of 
obtaining  it.  Continue  and  increase  those  desires, 
and  at  length  satisfy  and  exceed  them  all,  '  through 
the  riches  of  thy  grace  in  Christ  Jesus,'  Amen." 


STRUGGLING    UNDER  AFFLICTION.          377J 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  STRUGGLING  UNDER  GREAT  AND  HEAVY 
AFFLICTION. 

1.  Here  it  is  advised,  that  afflictions  should  be  expected. — 
2.  That  the  righteous  hand  of  God  should  be  acknowledged 
in  them  when  they  come. — 3.  That  they  should  be  borne  with 
patience. — 4.  That  the  divine  conduct  in  them  should  be  cor- 
dially approved. — 5.  That  thankfulness  should  be  maintained 
in  the  midst  of  trials. — 6.  That  the  design  of  afflictions  should 
be  diligently  inquired  into,  and  all  proper  assistance  taken  in 
discovering  it. — 7.  That  when  it  is  discovered,  it  should  hum- 
bly be  complied  with  and  answered.  A  prayer  suited  to  such 
a  case. 

1.  SINCE  "  man  is  born  unto  trouble,  as  the  sparks 
fly  upward,"  Job  5:7,  and  Adam  has  entailed  on 
all  his  race  the  sad  inheritance  of  calamity  in  their 
way  to  death,  it  will  certainly  be  prudent  and  neces- 
sary that  we  should  all  expect  to  meet  with  trials 
and  afflictions ;  and  that  you,  reader,  whoever  you  are, 
should  be  endeavoring  to  gird  on  your  armor,  and 
put  yourself  in  a  posture  to  encounter  those  trials 
which  will  fall  to  your  lot  as  a  man  and  a  Chris- 
tian. Prepare  yourself  to  receive  your  afflictions, 
and  to  endure  them  in  a  manner  agreeable  to  both 
these  characters.  In  this  view,  when  you  see  others 
under  the  burden,  consider  how  possible  it  is  that 


374  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

you  may  be  called  out  to  the  very  same  difficulties, 
or  to  others  equal  to  them.  Put  your  soul  as  in  the 
place  of  theirs.  Think  how  you  could  endure  the 
load  under  which  they  lie,  and  endeavor  at  once  to 
comfort  them,  and  to  strengthen  your  own  heart,  or 
rather  pray  that  God  would  do  it.  And  observing 
how  liable  mortal  life  is  to  such  sorrows,  moderate 
your  expectations  from  it,  raise  your  thoughts  above 
it,  and  form  your  schemes  of  happiness  only  for  that 
world  where  they  cannot  be  disappointed  ;  in  the 
meantime,  blessing  God  that  your  prosperity  is 
lengthened  out  thus  far,  and  ascribing  it  to  his  spe- 
cial providence  that  you  continue  so  long  unwounded, 
when  so  many  showers  of  arrows  are  flying  around 
you,  and  so  many  are  falling  by  them,  on  the  right 
hand  and  on  the  left. 

2.  When  at  length  your  turn  comes,  as  it  certainly 
will,  from  the  first  hour  in  which  an  affliction  seizes 
you,  realize  to  yourself  the  hand  of  God  in  it,  and 
lose  not  the  view  of  him  in  any  second  cause,  which 
may  have  proved  the  immediate  occasion.  Let  it  be 
your  first  care  to  "humble  yourself  under  the  mighty 
.hand  of  God,  that  he  may  exalt  you  in  due  time." 
1  Pet.  5  :  6.  Own  that  "  he  is  just  in  all  that  is 
brought  upon  you,"  Neh.  9  : 33,  and  that  in  all  these 
things  "  he  punishes  you  less  than  your  iniquities  de- 
serve." Ezra  9:13.  Compose  yourself  tc  bear  his 
hand  with  patience,  to  glorify  his  name  by  a  sub- 


STRUGGLING  UNDER  AFFLICTION.         375 

mission  to  his  will,  and  to  fall  in  with  the  gracious 
design  of  his  visitation,  as  well  as  to  wait  the  issue 
of  it  quietly,  whatsoever  the  event  may  be. 

3.  Now,    that  "  patience   may  have    its  perfect 
work,"  James  1:4,  reflect  frequently,   and  deeply, 
upon  your  own  unworthiness  and  sinfulness.     Con- 
sider how  often  every  mercy  has  been  forfeited,  and 
every  judgment  deserved.     And  consider,  too,  how 
long  the  patience  of  God  hath  borne  with  you,  and 
how  wonderfully  it  is  still  exerted  towards  you  \  and 
indeed,  not  only  his  patience,   but  his  bounty  too. 
Afflicted  as  you  are — for  I  speak  to  you  now  as  actu- 
ally under  the  pressure — look  around  and  survey  your 
remaining  mercies,  and  be  gratefully  sensible  of  them. 
Make  the  supposition  of  their  being  removed  :  what 
if  God  should  stretch  out  his  hand  against  you,  and 
add  poverty  to  pain,  or  pain  to  poverty,  or  the  loss 
of  friends  to  both,  or  the  death  of  surviving  friends 
to  that  of  those  whom  you  are  now  mourning  over  ; 
would  not  the  wound  be  more  grievous  ?     Adore  his 
goodness  that  this  is  not  the  case ;  and  take  heed 
lest  your  unthankfulness  should  provoke  him  to  mul- 
tiply your  sorrows.     Consider  also  the  need  you  have 
of  discipline,  how  wholesome  it  may  prove  to  your 
soul,  and  what  merciful  designs  our  heavenly  Father 
has  in  all  the  corrections  he  sends  upon  his  chil- 
dren. 

4.  Nay,  I  will  add,  that  in  consequence  of  all  these 


376  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

considerations,  it  may  be  well  expected,  not  only  that 
you  should  submit  to  your  afflictions,  as  what  you 
cannot  avoid,  but  that  you  should  sweetly  acquiesce 
in  them,  and  approve  them ;  that  you  should  not 
only  justify,  but  glorify  God  in  sending  them ;  that 
you  should  glorify  him  with  your  heart,  and  with 
your  lips  too.  Think  not  praises  unsuitable  on  such 
an  occasion ;  nor  that  praise  alone  to  be  suitable 
which  takes  its  rise  from  remaining  comforts  ;  but 
know,  that  it  is  your  duty  not  only  to  be  thankful  in 
your  afflictions,  but  to  be  thankful  on  account  of 
them. 

5.  God  himself  hath  said,  "  In  every  thing  give 
thanks,"  1  Thess.  5:18;  and  he  has  taught  his  ser- 
vants to  say,  ".Yea,  also,  we  glory  in  tribulation." 
Rom.  5:3.  And  most  certain  it  is,  that  to  true  be- 
lievers afflictions  are  tokens  of  divine  mercy ;  for 
"whom  the  Lord  loveth  he  chasteneth,  and  scourg- 
eth  every  son  whom  he  receiveth,"  with  peculiar  and 
distinguishing  endearment.  Heb.  12:6.  View  your 
present  afflictions  in  this  light,  as  chastisements  of 
love  ;  and  then  let  your  own  heart  say,  whether  love 
does  not  demand  praise.  Think  with  yourself,  "  It  is 
thus  that  God  is  making  me  conformable  to  his  own 
Son ;  it  is  thus  that  he  is  training  me  up  for  com- 
plete glory.  Thus  he  kills  my  corruptions  ;  thus  he 
strengthens  my  graces  ;  thus  he  is  wisely  contriving 
to  bring  me  nearer  to  himself,  and  to  ripen  me  for 


STRUGGLING    UNDER   AFFLICTION.         377 

the  honors  of  his  heavenly  kingdom.  It  is,  if  need 
be,  that  '  I  am  in  heaviness,'  1  Peter,  1:6,  and  he 
surely  knows  what  that  need  is  better  than  I  can 
pretend  to  teach  him,  and  knows  what  peculiar  pro- 
priety there  is  in  this  affliction  to  answer  my  present 
necessity,  and  to  do  me  that  peculiar  good  which  he 
is  graciously  intending  me  by  it.  This  tribulation 
shall  *  work  patience,  and  patience  experience,  and 
experience '  a  more  assured '  hope,'  even  a  hope  which 
'  shall  not  make  ashamed,'  while  the  love  of  God  is 
shed  abroad  in  my  heart,  Rom.  5:3,5,  and  shines 
through  my  affliction,  like  the  sun  through  a  gentle 
descending  cloud,  darting  in  light  upon  the  shade, 
and  mingling  fruitfulness  with  weeping." 

6  Let  it  be  then  your  earnest  care,  while  you  thus 
look  on  your  affliction,  whatever  it  may  be,  as  com- 
ing from  the  hand  of  God,  to  improve  it  to  the  pur- 
poses for  which  it  was  sent.  And  that  you  may  so 
improve  it,  let  it  be  your  first  concern  to  know  what 
those  purposes  are.  Summon  up  all  the  attention 
of  your  soul  to  bear  the  rod,  and  him ."  who  hath 
appointed  it,"  Mic.  6:9,  and  pray  earnestly  that  you 
may  understand  its  voice.  Examine  your  life,  your 
«  words,  and  your  heart ;  and  pray  that  God  would  so 
guide  your  inquiries,  that  you  may  "  return  unto  the 
Lord  that  smiteth  you."  Isaiah  9  :  13.  To  assist 
you  in  this,  call  in  the  help  of  pious  friends,  and  par- 
ticularly of  your  minister :  entreat  not  only  their 


378  RTSE  AND  PROGRESS. 

prayers,  but  their  advice  too,  as  to  the  probable  de- 
sign of  Providence ;  and  encourage  them  freely  to 
tell  you  any  thing  which  occurs  to  their  minds  upon 
this  head.  And  if  such  an  occasion  should  lead  them 
to  touch  upon  some  of  the  imperfections  of  your  char- 
acter and  conduct,  look  upon  it  as  a  great  token  of 
their  friendship,  and  take  it  not  only  patiently,  but 
thankfully.  It  does  but  ill  become  a  Christian,  at 
any  time,  to  resent  reproofs  and  admonitions ;  and 
least  of  all  does  it  become  him,  when  the  rebukes  of 
his  heavenly  Father  are  upon  him.  He  ought  rather 
to  seek  admonitions  at  such  a  time  as  this,  and  vol- 
untarily offer  his  wounds  to  be  searched  by  a  faithful 
and  skilful  hand. 

9.  And  when,  by  one  means  or  another,  you  have 
got  a  ray  of  light  to  direct  you  in  the  meaning  and 
language  of  such  dispensations,  take  heed  that  you 
do  not,  in  any  degree,  "  harden  yourself  against  God, 
and  walk  contrary  to  him."  Lev.  26  :  27.  Obstinate 
reluctance  to  the  apprehended  design  of  any  provi- 
dential stroke,  is  inexpressibly  provoking  to  him.  Set 
yourself,  therefore,  to  an  immediate  reformation  of 
whatever  you  discover  amiss,  and  labor  to  learn  the 
general  lessons  of  greater  submission  to  God's  will, 
of  a  more  calm  indifference  to  the  world,  and  of  a 
closer  attachment  to  divine  converse,  and  to  the  views 
of  an  approaching  invisible  state.  And  whatever 
particular  proportion  or  correspondence  you  may  ob- 


PRAYER    UNDER    AFFLICTION.  379 

serve  between  this  or  that  circumstance  in  your  afflic- 
tion and  your  former  transgressions,  be  especially 
careful  to  act  according  to  that  more  peculiar  and 
express  voice  of  the  rod.  Then  you  may  perhaps 
have  speedy  and  remarkable  reason  to  say,  that  "  it 
hath  been  good  for  you  that  you  have  been  afflicted," 
Psalm  119  :  71,  and  with  a  multitude  of  others,  may 
learn  to  number  the  times  of  your  sharpest  trials 
among  the  sweetest  and  most  exalted  moments  of 
your  life  For  this  purpose,  let  prayer  be  your  fre- 
quent employment ;  and  let  such  sentiments  as  these, 
if  not  in  the  very  same  terms,  be  often  and  affection- 
ately poured  out  before  God. 

AN  HUMBLE  ADDRESS  TO  GOD,  UNDER  THE  PRESSURE  OF 
HEAVY  AFFLICTION. 

"  0  thou  supreme,  yet  all-righteous  and  gracious 
Governor  of  the  whole  universe,  mean  and  inconsid- 
erable as  this  little  province  of  thy  spacious  empire 
may  appear,  thou  dost  not  disregard  the  earth  and  its 
inhabitants,  but  attendest  to  its  concerns  with  the 
most  condescending  and  gracious  regard.  '  Thou 
reignest,  and  I  rejoice  in  it;'  as  it  is  indeed  '  matter 
of  universal  joy.'  Psalm  97  :  1.  I  believe  thy  uni- 
versal providence  and  care  ;  and  I  firmly  believe  thy 
wise,  holy,  and  kind  interposition  in  every  thing  which 
relates  to  me  and  to  the  circumstances  of  my  abode 
in  this  world.  I  would  look  through  all  inferior 


380  RISE   AND  PROGRESS. 

causes  unto  thee,  whose  eyes  are  upon  all  thy  crea- 
tures ;  to  thee,  '  who  formest  light,  and  Greatest  dark- 
ness ;'  who  *  makest  peace,  and  Greatest  evil,'  Isaiah 
45  :  7  ;  to  thee,  Lord,  who  at  thy  pleasure  canst  ex- 
change the  one  for  the  other— canst  turn  the  brightest 
noon  into  midnight,  and  the  darkest  midnight  into 
noon. 

"  0  thou  wise  and  merciful  Governor  of  the  world, 
I  have  often  said,  'Thy  will  be  done ;'  and  now,  thy 
will  is  painful  to  me.  But  shall  I  upon  that  account 
unsay  what  I  have  so  often  said  ?  'God  forbid.'  I 
come  rather  to  lay  myself  down  at  thy  feet,  and  to 
declare  my  full  and  free  submission  to  all  thy  sacred 
pleasure.  0  Lord,  thou  art  just  and  righteous  in  all. 
I  acknowledge,  in  thy  venerable  and  awful  presence, 
that  '  I  have  deserved  this,'  and  ten  thousand  times 
more.  Ezra  9:13.  I  acknowledge,  that '  it  is  of  thy 
mercy  that  I  am  not  utterly  consumed,'  Lam.  3  :  22, 
and  that  any,  the  least  degree  of  comfort  yet  remains. 
0  Lord,  I  most  readily  confess  that  the  sins  of  one 
day  of  my  life  have  merited  all  these  chastisements  ; 
and  that  every  day  of  my  life  has  been  more  or  less 
sinful.  Smite,  therefore,  0  thou  righteous  Judge, 
and  I  will  still  adore  thee,  that  instead  of  the  scourge, 
thou  hast  not  given  a  commission  to  the  sword,  to  do 
all  the  dreadful  work  of  justice,  and  to  pour  out  my 
blood  in  thy  presence. 

"  But  shall  I  speak  unto  thee  only  as  my  Judge  ? 


PRAYER  UNDER  AFFLICTION.  381 

0  Lord,  them  hast  taught  me  a  tenderer  name  ;  thou 
condescendest  to  call  thyself  my  Father,  and  to  speak 
of  correction  as  the  effect  of  thy  love.     0  welcome, 
welcome  those  afflictions,  which  are  the  tokens  of  thy 
paternal  affection,  the  marks  of  my  adoption  into  thy 
family.    Thou  knowest  what  discipline  I  need.    Thou 
eeest,  0  Lord,  that  bundle  of  folly  which  there  is  in 
the  heart  of  thy  poor,  froward,  and  thoughtless  child, 
and  knowest  what  rods  and  what  strokes  are  needful 
to  drive  it  away.     I  would  therefore  *  be  in  humble 
subjection  to  the  Father  of  spirits,'  who  '  chasteneth 
me  for  my  profit' — would  'be  in  subjection  to  him, 
and  live.'    Heb.  12  :  9,  10.     I  would  bear  thy  strokes, 
not  merely  because  I  cannot  resist  them,  but  because 

1  love  and  trust  in  thee.     I  would  sweetly  acquiesce 
and  rest  in  thy  will,  as  well  as  stoop  to  it,  and  would 
say, '  Good  is  the  word  of  the  Lord",'  2  Kings,  20  : 19 ; 
and  I  desire  that  not  only  my  lips,  but  my  soul  may 
acquiesce.     Yea,  Lord,  I  would  praise  thee,  that  thou 
wilt  show  so  much  regard  to  me  as  to  apply  such 
remedies  as  these  to  the  diseases  of  my  mind,  and  art 
thus  kindly  careful  to  train  me  up  for  glory.     I  have 
no  objection  against  being  afflicted — against  being 
afflicted  in  this  particular  way.     '  The  cup  which  my 
Father  puts  into  my  hand,  shall  I  not  drink  it?' 
John  18  :  11.    By  thine  assistance  and  support  I  will. 
Only  be  pleased,  0  Lord,  to  stand  by  me,  and  some- 
times to  grant  me  a  favorable  look,  in  the  midst  of 


383  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

my  sufferings.  Support  my  soul,  I  beseech  thee,  by 
thy  consolations  mingled  with  my  tribulations,  and 
I  shall  glory  in  those  tribulations  that  are  thus  al- 
layed. It  has  been  the  experience  of  many,  who 
have  reflected  on  afflicted  days  with  pleasure,  and 
have  acknowledged  that  their  comforts  have  swal- 
lowed up  their  sorrows.  And  after  all  that  thou  hast 
done,  '  are  thy  mercies  restrained  ?'  Isaiah  63  :  15. 
•Is  thy  hand  waxed  short?'  Numbers  11  :  23  ;  or 
canst  thou  not  do  the  same  for  me  ? 

"  If  my  heart  be  less  tender,  less  sensible,  thou 
canst  cure  that  disorder,  and  canst  make  this  afflic- 
tion the  means  of  curing  it.  Thus  let  it  be  ;  and  at 
length,  in  thine  own  due  time,  and  in  the  way  which 
thou  shalt  choose,  work  out  deliverance  for  me,  'and 
show  me  thy  marvellous  loving-kindness,  0  thou  that 
savest  by  thy  right  hand  them  that  put  their  trust 
in  thee.'  Psalm  17:7.  For  I  well  know,  that  how 
dark  soever  this  night  of  affliction  may  seem,  if  thou 
sayest,  '  Let  there  be  light,'  there  shall  be  light.  But 
I  would  urge  nothing  before  the  time  thy  wisdom  and 
goodness  shall  appoint.  I  am  much  more  concerned 
that  my  afflictions  may  be  sanctified,  than  that  they 
may  be  removed.  Number  me,  0  God,  among  the 
happy  persons  whom,  while  thou  chastenest,  thou 
cteachest  out  of  thy  law.'  Psalm  94  :  12.  Show 
me,  I  beseech  thee,  'wherefore  thou  contendest with 
me,'  Job  10:2,  and  purify  me  by  the  fire,  which  is 


PRAYER  UNDER  AFFLICTION.  383 

so  painful  to  me  while  I  am  passing  through  it.  Dost 
thou  not  chasten  thy  children  for  this  very  end, '  that 
they  may  be  partakers  of  thy  holiness  ?'  Heb.  12:10. 
Thou  knowest,  0  God,  it  is  this  my  soul  is  breathing 
after.  I  am  partaker  of  thy  bounty  every  day  and 
moment  of  my  life  :  I  am  partaker  of  thy  Gospel,  and 
I  hope,  in  some  measure  too,  a  partaker  of  the  grace 
of  it  operating  on  my  heart.  0  may  it  operate  more 
and  more,  that  I  may  largely  partake  of  thine  holi- 
ness too,  that  I  may  come  nearer  and  nearer  in  the 
temper  of  rny  mind  to  thee,  0  blessed  God,  the  su- 
preme model  of  perfection.  Let  my  soul  be  as  it 
were  melted,  though  with  the  intensest  heat  of  the 
furnace,  if  I  may  but  thereby  be  made  fit  for  being 
delivered  into  the  mould  of  the  Gospel,  and  bearing 
thy  bright  and  amiable  image. 

"  0  Lord,  { my  soul  longeth  for  thee  ;  it  crieth  out 
for  the  living  God.'  Psalm  84  :  2.  In  thy  presence, 
and  under  the  support  of  thy  love,  I  can  bear  any 
thing ;  and  am  willing  to  bear  it,  if  I  may  grow 
more  lovely  in  thine  eyes,  and  more  meet  for  thy 
kingdom.  The  days  of  my  affliction  will  have  an 
end  ;  the  hour  will  at  length  come,  when  thou  'wilt 
wipe  away  all  my  tears.'  Rev.  21:4.  '  Though  it 
tarry,'  I  would  '  wait  for  it.'  Hab.  2:3.  My  foolish 
heart,  in  the  midst  of  all  its  trials,  is  ready  to  grow 
fond  of  this  earth,  disappointing  and  grievous  as  it 
is ;  and  graciously,  0  God,  dost  thou  deal  with  me, 


384  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

in  breaking  those  bonds  that  would  tie  me  faster  to 
it.  0  let  my  soul  be  girding  itself  up,  and  as  it 
were,  stretching  its  wings  in  expectation  of  that 
blessed  hour  when  it  shall  drop  all  its  sorrows  and 
incumbrances  at  once,  and  soar  away  to  expatiate 
with  infinite  delight  in  the  regions  of  liberty,  peace, 
and  joy.  Amen." 


GROWTH  IN  GRACE.  385 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

THE    CHRISTIAN    ASSISTED    IN    EXAMINING   INTO    HIS 
GROWTH   IN  GRACE. 

1.  The  examination  important. — 2.  False  marks  of  growth 
to  be  avoided. — 3.  True  marks  proposed;  such  as  increasing 
love  to  God. — 4.  Benevolence  to  men. — 5.  Candor  of  dispo- 
sition.— 6.  Meekness  under  injuries. — 7.  Serenity  amidst  the 
uncertainties  of  life. — 8.  Humility,  especially  as  expressed  in 
evangelical  exercises  of  mind  towards  Christ  and  the  Holy 
Spirit. — 10.  Zeal  for  the  divine  honor. — 11.  Habitual  and 
cheerful  willingness  to  exchange  worlds  whenever  God  shall 
appoint. — 12.  Conclusion.  The  Christian  breathing  after 
growth  in  grace. 

1.  IF  by  divine  grace  you  have  "  been  born  again, 
not  of  corruptible  seed,  but  of  incorruptible,"  1  Pet. 
1  :  23,  even  "  by  that  word  of  God  which  liveth  and 
abideth  for  ever,"  not  only  in  the  world  and  the 
church,  but  in  particular  souls  in  which  it  is  sown ; 
you  will,  "  as  new-born  babes,  desire  the  sincere  milk 
of  the  word,  that  you  may  grow  thereby."  1  Pet. 
2:2.  And  though  in  the  most  advanced  state  of 
religion  on  earth,  we  are  but  infants  in  comparison 
to  what  we  hope  to  be,  when,  in  the  heavenly  world, 
we  arrive  "  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of 
the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ,"  Eph.  4  :  13  ; 
yet,  as  we  have  some  exercise  of  a  sanctified  reason, 

Rise  and  Prog,  25 


886  RISE   AND    PROGRESS. 

we  shall  be  solicitous  that  we  may  be  growing  and 
thriving.  And  you,  my  reader,  "if  so  be  you  have 
tasted  that  the  Lord  is  gracious,"  1  Pet.  2:3,  will,  I 
doubt  not,  feel  this  solicitude.  I  would,  therefore, 
endeavor  to  assist  you  in  making  the  inquiry,  whether 
religion  be  on  the  advance  in  your  soul.  And  here 
I  shall  warn  you  against  some  false  marks  of  growth, 
and  then  shall  endeavor  to  lay  down  others  on  which 
you  may  depend  as  more  solid.  In  this  view  I  would 
observe,  that  you  are  not  to  measure  your  growth  in 
grace  only  or  chiefly  by  your  advances  in  knowledge, 
or  in  zeal,  or  any  other  passionate  impression  of  the 
mind,  no,  nor  by  the  fervor  of  devotion  alone ;  but 
by  the  habitual  determination  of  the  will  for  God, 
arid  by  your  prevailing  disposition  to  obey  his  com- 
mands, submit  to  his  disposal,  and  promote  the  high- 
est welfare  of  his  cause  in  the  earth. 

2.  It  must  be  allowed,  that  knowledge  and  affec- 
tion in  religion  are  indeed  desirable.  Without  some 
degree  of  the  former,  religion  cannot  be  rational  i 
and  it  is  very  reasonable  to  believe,  that  without 
some  degree  of  the  latter,  it  cannot  be  sincere  in 
creatures  whose  natures  are  constituted  like  ours. 
Yet  there  may  be  a  great  deal  of  speculative  know- 
ledge, and  a  great  deal  of  rapturous  affection,  where 
there  is  no  true  religion  at  all ;  and  still  more,  where 
religion  exists,  though  there  be  no  advanced  state  of 
it.  The  exercise  of  our  rational  faculties  upon  the 


GROWTH  IN  GRACE.  387 

evidences  of  divine  revelation,  and  upon  the  declara- 
tion of  it  as  contained  in  Scripture,  may  furnish  a 
very  wicked  man  with  a  well-digested  body  of  ortho- 
dox divinity  in  his  head,  when  not  one  single  doctrine 
of  it  has  ever  reached  his  heart.  An  eloquent  de- 
scription of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  of  the  solemnities 
of  judgment,  of  the  joys  of  the  blessed,  and  the  mise- 
ries of  the  damned,  might  move  the  breast  even  of 
a  man  who  did  not  firmly  believe  them  ;  as  we  often 
find  ourselves  strongly  moved  by  well- wrought  nar- 
rations or  discourses,  which  at  the  same  time  we 
know  to  have  their  foundation  in  fiction.  Natural 
constitution,  or  such  accidental  causes  as  are,  some 
of  them,  too  low  to  be  here  mentioned,  may  supply 
the  eyes  with  a  flood  of  tears,  which  may  discharge 
itself  plenteously  upon  almost  any  occasion  that  shall 
first  arise.  And  a  proud  impatience  of  contradic- 
tion, directly  opposite  as  it  is  to  the  gentle  spirit  of 
Christianity,  may  make  a  man's  blood  boil  when  he 
hears  the  notions  he  has  entertained,  and  especially 
those  which  he  has  openly  and  vigorously  espoused, 
disputed  and  opposed.  This  may  possibly  lead  him, 
in  terms  of  strong  indignation,  to  pour  out  his  zeal 
and  his  rage  before  God,  in  a  fond  conceit,  that  as 
the  God  of  truth,  he  is  the  pattern  of  those  favorite 
doctrines  by  whose  fair  appearances  perhaps  he  him- 
self is  misled.  And  if  these  speculative  refinements, 
or  these  affectionate  sallies  of  the  mind,  be  consistent 


388  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 

with  a  total  absence  of  true  religion,  they  are  much 
more  apparently  consistent  with  a  very  4ow  state  of 
it.  I  would  desire  to  lead  you,  my  friend,  into  sub- 
limer  notions  and  juster  marks,  and  refer  you  to 
other  practical  writers,  and  above  all,  to  the  book 
of  God,  to  prove  how  material  they  are.  I  would 
therefore  entreat  you  to  bring  your  own  heart  to 
answer,  as  in  the  presence  of  God,  such  inquiries  as 
these  : 

3.  Do  you  find  "  divine  love,  on  the  whole,  ad- 
vancing in  your  soul  ?"  Do  you  feel  yourself  more 
and  more  sensible  of  the  presence  of  God ;  and  does 
that  sense  grow  more  delightful  to  you  than  it  for- 
merly was?  Can  you,  even  when  your  natural 
spirits  are  weak  and  low,  and  you  are  not  in  any 
frame  for  the  ardors  and  ecstasies  of  devotion,  never- 
theless find  a  pleasing  rest,  a  calm  repose  of  heart, 
in  the  thought  that  God  is  near  you,  and  that  he  sees 
the  secret  sentiments  of  your  soul,  while  you  are,  as 
it  were,  laboring  up  the  hill,  and  casting  a  longing 
eye  towards  him,  though  you  cannot  say  you  enjoy 
any  sensible  communications  from  him  ?  Is  it  agree- 
able to  you  to  open  your  heart  to  his  inspection  and 
regard,  to  present  it  to  him  laid  bare  of  every  dis- 
guise, and  say  with  David,  "  Thou,  Lord,  knowest 
thy  servant  ?"  2  Sam.  7  :  20.  Do  you  find  a  grow- 
ing esteem  and  approbation  of  that  sacred  law  of 
God,  which  is  the  transcript  of  his  moral  perfections? 


GROWTH    IN   GRACE.  389 

Do  you  inwardly  "  esteem  all  his  precepts  concerning 
all  things  to  be  right  ?"  Psalm  119  :  128.  Do  you 
discern  not  only  the  necessity,  but  the  reasonableness, 
the  beauty,  the  pleasure  of  obedience ;  and  feel  a 
growing  scorn  and  contempt  of  those  things  which 
may  be  offered  as  the  price  of  your  innocence,  and 
would  tempt  you  to  sacrifice  or  hazard  your  interest 
in  the  divine  favor  and  friendship  ?  Do  you  find  an 
ingenuous  desire  to  please  God,  not  only  because  he 
is  so  powerful,  and  has  so  many  good  and  so  many 
evil  things  entirely  at  his  command,  but  from  a  ven- 
eration of  his  most  amiable  nature  and  character ; 
and  do  you  find  your  heart  habitually  reconciled  to 
a  most  humble  subjection  both  to  his  commanding 
and  to  his  disposing  will  ?  Do  you  perceive  that 
your  own  will  is  now  more  ready  and  disposed,  in 
every  circumstance,  to  bear  the  yoke,  and  to  submit 
to  the  divine  determination,  whatever  he  appoints  to 
be  borne  or  forborne  ?  Can  you  "  in  patience  possess 
your  soul  ?"  Luke  21  :  19.  Can  you  maintain  a 
more  steady  calmness  and  serenity,  when  God  is 
striking  at  your  dearest  enjoyments  in  this  world, 
and  acting  most  directly  contrary  to  your  present 
interests,  to  your  natural  passions  and  desires  ?  If 
you  can,  it  is  a  most  certain  and  noble  sign  that 
grace  is  growing  up  in  you  to  a  very  vigorous  state. 
4.  Examine  also,  "  what  affections  you  find  in 
your  heart  towards  those  who  are  about  you,  and  to- 


390  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 

wards  the  rest  of  mankind  in  general."  Do  you  find 
your  heart  overflow  with  undissembled  and  unre- 
strained benevolence  ?  Are  you  more  sensible  than 
you  once  were  of  those  most  endearing  bonds  which 
unite  all  men,  and  especially  all  Christians,  into  one 
community  ;  which  make  them  brethren  and  fellow- 
citizens  ?  Do  all  the  unfriendly  passions  die  and 
wither  in  your  soul,  while  the  kind,  social  affections 
grow  and  strengthen  ?  And  though  self-love  was 
never  the  reigning  passion  since  you  became  a  true 
Christian,  yet,  as  some  remainders  of  it  are  still  too 
ready  to  work  inwardly,  and  to  show  themselves, 
especially  as  sudden  occasions  arise,  do  you  perceive 
that  you  are  getting  ground  of  them  ?  Do  you  think 
of  yourself  only  as  one  of  a  great  number,  whose 
particular  interests  and  concerns  are  of  little  impor- 
tance when  compared  with  those  of  the  community, 
and  ought  by  all  means,  on  all  occasions,  to  be  sac- 
rificed to  them  ? 

5.  Reflect  especially  "  on  the  temper  of  your  mind 
towards  those  whom  an  unsanctified  heart  might  be 
ready  to  imagine  it  had  some  just  excuse  for  except- 
ing out  of  the  list  of  those  it  loves,  and  from  whom 
you  are  ready  to  feel  some  secret  alienation  or  aver- 
sion." How  does  your  mind  stand  affected  towards 
those  who  differ  from  you  in  their  religious  sentiments 
and  practices  ?  I  do  not  say  that  Christian  charity 
will  require  you  to  think  every  error  harmless.  It 


GROWTH   IN   GRACE.  39J 

argues  no  want  of  love  to  a  friend,  in  some  cases,  to 
fear  lest  his  disorder  should  prove  more  fatal  than  he 
seems  to  imagine ;  nay,  sometimes  the  very  tender- 
ness of  friendship  may  increase  that  apprehension. 
But  to  hate  persons  because  we  think  they  are  mis- 
taken, and  to  aggravate  every  difference  in  judgment 
or  practice  into  a  fatal  and  damnable  error,  that  de- 
stroys all  Christian  communion  and  love,  is  a  symp- 
tom generally  much  worse  than  the  evil  it  condemns. 
Do  you  love  the  image  of  Christ  in  a  person  who 
thinks  himself  obliged  in  conscience  to  profess  and 
worship  in  a  manner  different  from  yourself?  Nay, 
farther,  can  you  love  and  honor  that  which  is  truly 
amiable  and  excellent  in  those  in  whom  much  is 
defective  ;  in  those  in  whom  there  is  a  mixture  of 
bigotry  and  narrowness  of  spirit,  which  may  lead 
them  perhaps  to  slight,  or  even  to  censure  you? 
Can  you  love  them  as  the  disciples  and  servants  of 
Christ,  who,  through  a  mistaken  zeal,  may  be  ready 
to  "  cast  out  your  name  as  evil,"  Luke  6  :  22,  and 
to  warn  others  against  you  as  a  dangerous  person  ? 
This  is  none  of  the  least  triumphs  of  charity,  nor  any 
despicable  evidence  of  an  advance  in  religion. 

6.  And  on  this  head,  reflect  farther,  "  How  can 
you  bear  injuries?"  There  is  a  certain  hardness  of 
soul  in  this  respect,  which  argues  a  confirmed  state 
in  piety  and  virtue.  Does  every  thing  of  this  kind 
hurry  and  ruffle  you,  so  as  to  put  you  on  contrivances 


392  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

how  you  may  recompense,  or  at  least,  how  you  may 
disgrace  and  expose  him  who  has  done  you  the 
wrong  ?  Or  can  you  stand  the  shock  calmly,  and 
easily  divert  your  mind  to  other  objects ;  only,  when 
you  recollect  these  things,  pitying  and  praying  for 
those  who,  with  the  worst  tempers  and  views,  are  as- 
saulting you  ?  This  is  a  Christlike  temper  indeed, 
and  he  will  own  it  as  such — will  own  you  as  one  of 
his  soldiers,  as  one  of  his  heroes ;  especially  if  it 
rises  so  far  as,  instead  of  being  "  overcome  of  evil,  to 
overcome  evil  with  good."  Rom.  12  :  21.  Watch 
over  your  spirit  and  over  your  tongue,  when  injuries 
are  offered,  and  see  whether  you  be  ready  to  medi- 
tate upon  them,  to  aggravate  them  in  your  own 
view,  to  complain  of  them  to  others,  and  to  lay  on 
all  the  load  of  blame  that  you  in  justice  can ;  or 
whether  you  be  ready  to  put  the  kindest  construc- 
tion upon  the  offence,  to  excuse  it  as  far  as  reason 
will  allow,  and  where,  after  all,  it  will  wear  a 
black  and  odious  aspect,  to  forgive  it,  heartily  to 
forgive  it,  and  that  even  before  any  submission  is 
made,  or  pardon  asked  ;  and  in  token  of  the  sincerity 
of  that  forgiveness,  to  be  contriving  what  can  be 
done,  by  some  benefit  or  other  towards  the  injurious 
person,  to  teach  him  a  better  temper. 

7.  Examine  farther,  "  with  regard  to  other  evils 
and  calamities  of  life,  and  even  with  regard  to  its 
uncertainties,  how  you  can  bear  them."  Do  you  find 


GROWTH  IN  GRACE.  393 

your  soul  is  in  this  respect  gathering  strength  ?  Have 
you  fewer  foreboding  fears  and  disquieting  alarms 
than  you  once  had,  as  to  what  may  happen  in  life  ? 
Can  you  trust  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God  to 
order  your  affairs  for  you,  with  more  complacency 
and  cheerfulness  than  formerly  ?  Do  you  find  your- 
self able  to  unite  your  thoughts  more  in  surveying 
present  circumstances,  that  you  may  collect  imme- 
diate duty  from  them,  though  you  know  not  what 
God  will  next  appoint  or  call  you  to  ?  And  when 
you  feel  the  smart  of  affliction,  do  you  make  a  less 
matter  of  it  ?  Can  you  transfer  your  heart  more 
easily  to  heavenly  and  divine  objects,  without  an 
anxious  solicitude  whether  this  or  that  burden  be 
removed,  so  it  may  but  be  sanctified  to  promote  your 
communion  with  God  and  your  ripeness  for  glory  ? 

8.  Examine  also,  "  whether  you  advance  in  hu- 
mility." This  is  a  silent  but  most  excellent  grace ; 
and  they  who  are  most  eminent  in  it  are  dearest  to 
God,  and  most  fit  for  the  communications  of  his  pres- 
ence to  them.  Do  you,  then,  feel  your  mind  more 
emptied  of  proud  and  haughty  imaginations — not 
prone  so  much  to  look  back  upon  past  services  which 
it  has  performed,  as  forward  to  those  which  are  yet 
before  you,  and  inward  upon  the  remaining  imper- 
fections of  your  heart  ?  Do  you  more  tenderly  ob- 
serve your  daily  failures  and  miscarriages,  and  find 
yourself  disposed  to  mourn  over  those  things  before 


394  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

the  Lord,  that  once  passed  with  you  as  slight  mat- 
ters, though  when  you  come  to  survey  them  as  in 
the  presence  of  God,  you  find  they  were  not  wholly 
involuntary  or  free  from  guilt  ?  Do  you  feel  in  your 
breast  a  deeper  apprehension  of  the  infinite  majesty 
of  the  blessed  God,  and  of  the  glory  of  his  natural 
and  moral  perfections,  so  as,  in  consequence  of  these 
views,  to  perceive  yourself  as  it  were  annihilated  in 
his  presence,  and  to  shrink  into  "  less  than  nothing, 
and  vanity  ?"  Isaiah  40  :  17.  If  this  be  your  tem- 
per, God  will  look  upon  you  with  peculiar  favor,  and 
will  visit  you  more  and  more  with  the  distinguishing 
blessings  of  his  grace. 

9.  But  there  is  another  great  branch  and  effect  of 
Christian  humility,  which  it  would  be  an  unpardon- 
able negligence  to  omit.  Let  me,  therefore,  farther 
inquire,  are  you  more  frequently  renewing  your  ap- 
plication, your  sincere,  steady,  determined  application 
to  the  righteousness  and  blood  of  Christ,  as  being 
sensible  how  unworthy  you  are  to  appear  before  God 
otherwise  than  in  him  ?  And  do  the  remaining  cor- 
ruptions of  your  hea.rt  humble  you  before  him,  though 
the  disorders  of  your  life  are  in  a  great  measure 
cured  ?  Are  you  more  earnest  to  obtain  the  quick- 
ening influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  have  you 
such  a  sense  of  your  own  weakness  as  to  engage  you 
to  depend,  in  all  the  duties  you  perform,  upon  the 
communications  of  his  grace  to  "  help  your  infirrni- 


GROWTH  IN  GRACE.  3;)5 

ties  ?"  Rom.  8  :  26.  Can  you,  at  the  close  of  your 
most  religious,  exemplary,  and  useful  days,  blush 
before  God  for  the  deficiencies  of  them,  while  others 
perhaps  may  be  ready  to  admire  and  extol  your  con- 
duct ?  And  while  you  give  the  glory  of  all  that  has 
been  right  to  Him  from  whom  the  strength  and  grace 
has  been  derived,  are  you  coming  to  the  blood  of 
sprinkling,  to  free  you  from  the  guilt  which  mingles 
itself  even  with  the  best  of  your  services  ?  Do  you 
learn  to  receive  the  bounties  of  Providence  not  only 
with  thankfulness,  as  coming  from  God,  but  with  a 
mixture  of  shame  and  confusion  too,  under  a  con- 
sciousness that  you  do  not  deserve  them,  and  are 
continually  forfeiting  them?  And  do  you  justify 
Providence  in  your  afflictions  and  disappointments, 
evenx  while  many  are  flourishing  around  you  full  in 
the  bloom  of  prosperity,  whose  offences  have  been 
more  visible  at  least,  and  more  notorious  than  yours? 
10.  Do  you  also  advance  "in  zeal  and  activity" 
for  the  service  of  God  and  the  happiness  of  mankind  ? 
Does  your  love  show  itself  solid  and  sincere,  by  a 
continual  flow  of  good  works  from  it  ?  Can  you 
view  the  sorrows  of  others  with  tender  compassion, 
and  with  projects  and  contrivances  what  you  may 
do  to  relieve  them  ?  Do  you  feel  in  your  breast  that 
you  are  more  frequently  "  devising  liberal  things/' 
Isaiah  32  :  8,  and  ready  to  waive  your  own  advan- 
tage or  pleasure  that  you  may  accomplish  them  ? 


396  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

Do  you  find  your  imagination  teeming,  as  it  were, 
with  conceptions  and  schemes  for  the  advancement 
of  the  cause  and  interest  of  Christ  in  the  world,  for 
the  propagation  of  his  Gospel,  and  for  the  happiness 
of  your  fellow-creatures  ?  And  do  you  not  only  pray, 
but  act  for  it ;  act  in  such  a  manner  as  to  show  that 
you  pray  in  earnest,  and  feel  a  readiness  to  do  what 
little  you  can  in  this  cause,  even  though  others,  who 
might,  if  they  pleased,  very  conveniently  do  a  vast 
deal  more,  will  do  nothing  ? 

11.  And,  not  to  enlarge  upon  this  copious  head, 
reflect  once  more,  "how  your  affections  stand  with 
regard  to  this  world  and  another."  Are  you  more 
deeply  and  practically  convinced  of  the  vanity  of 
these  "  things  which  are  seen,  and  are  temporal  ?" 
2  Cor.  4  :  18.  Do  you  perceive  your  expectations 
from  them  and  your  attachments  to  them  to  dimin- 
ish ?  You  are  willing  to  stay  in  this  world  as  long 
as  your  Father  pleases ;  and  it  is  right  and  well : 
but  do  you  find  your  bonds  so  loosened  to  it,  that 
you  are  willing,  heartily  willing,  to  leave  it  at  the 
shortest  warning ;  so  that  if  God  should  see  fit  to 
summon  you  away  on  a  sudden,  though  it  should  be 
in  the  midst  of  your  enjoyments,  pursuits,  expecta- 
tions, and  hopes,  you  would  cordially  consent  to  that 
remove  without  saying,  "  Lord,  let  me  stay  a  little 
while  longer,  to  enjoy  this  or  that  agreeable  enter- 
tainment, to  finish  this  or  that  scheme  ?"  Can  you 


GROWTH   IN   GRACE.  '397 

think,  with  an  habitual  calmness  and  hearty  appro- 
bation, if  such  be  the  divine  pleasure,  of  waking  no 
more  when  you  lie  down  on  your  bed,  of  returning 
home  no  more  when  you  go  out  of  your  house  ?  And 
yet,  on  the  other  hand,  how  great  soever  the  burdens 
of  life  are,  do  you  find  a  willingness  to  bear  them,  in 
submission  to  the  will  of  your  heavenly  Father, 
though  it  should  be  to  many  future  years,  and  though 
they  should  be  years  of  far  greater  affliction  than  you 
have  ever  yet  seen?  Can  you  say  calmly  and 
steadily,  if  not  with  such  overflowings  of  tender 
affection  as  you  could  desire,  " Behold,  'thy  servant/ 
thy  child  is  '  in  thine  hand ;  do  with  me  as  seemeth 
good  in  thy  sight.'  2  Sam.  15  :  26.  My  will  is 
melted  into  thine ;  to  be  lifted  up  or  laid  down,  to 
be  carried  out  or  brought  in,  to  be  here  or  there,  in 
this  or  that  circumstance,  just  as  thou  pleasest,  and 
as  shall  best  suit  with  thy  great  extensive  plan, 
which  it  is  impossible  that  I,  or  all  the  angels  in 
heaven,  should  mend." 

12.  These,  if  I  understand  matters  arighti  are 
Borne  of  the  most  substantial  evidences  of  growth 
and  establishment  in  religion.  Search  after  them  ; 
bless  God  for  them,  so  far  as  you  discover  them  in 
yourself,  and  study  to  advance  in  them  daily,  under 
the  influences  of  divine  grace ;  to  which  I  heartily 
recommend  you,  and  to  which  I  entreat  you  fre- 
quently to  recommend  yourself. 


398  RISE    AND  PROGRESS. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  BREATHING  EARNESTLY   AFTER 
GROWTH  IN  GRACE. 

"  0  thou  ever-blessed  Fountain  of  natural  and 
spiritual  life,  I  thank  thee  that  I  live,  and  know  the 
exercises  and  pleasures  of  a  religious  life.  I  bless 
thee  that  thou  hast  infused  into  me  thine  own  vital 
breath,  though  I  was  once  *  dead  in  trespasses  and 
sins,'  Eph.  2:1,  so  that  I  am  become,  in  a  sense 
peculiar  to  thine  own  children,  '  a  living  soul.'  Gen. 
2:7.  But  it  is  my  earnest  desire  that  I  may  not 
only  live  but  grow,  '  grow  in  grace,  and  in  the 
knowledge  of  my  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,'  2 
Pet.  3  :  18,  upon  an  acquaintance  with  whom  my 
progress  in  it  so  evidently  depends.  In  this  view,  I 
humbly  entreat  thee  that  thou  wilt  form  my  mind 
to  right  notions  in  religion,  that  I  may  not  judge  of 
grace  by  any  wrong  conceptions  of  it,  nor  measure 
my  advances  in  it  by  those  things  which  are  merely 
the  effects  of  nature,  and  possibly  its  corrupt  effects. 

"May  I  be  seeking  after  an  increase  of  divine  love 
to  thee,  my  God  and  Father  in  Christ,  of  unreserved 
resignation  to  thy  wise  and  holy  will,  and  of  exten- 
sive benevolence  to  my  fellow/creatures.  May  I  grow 
in  patience  and  fortitude  of  soul,  in  humility  and 
zeal,  in  spirituality  and  a  heavenly  disposition  of 
mind,  and  in  a  concern,  'that,  whether  present  or 
absent,  I  may  be  accepted  of  the  Lord,'  2  Cor.  5:9, 
that  whether  I  live  or  die,  it  may  be  for  thy  glory. 


GROWTH  IN  GRACE.  309 

In  a  word,  as  tliou  Imowest  I  hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness,  make  me  whatever  thou  wouldst  de- 
light to  see  me.  Draw  on  my  soul,  by  the  gentle 
influences  of  thy  gracious  Spirit,  every  trace,  and 
every  feature,  which  thine  eye,  0  heavenly  Father, 
may  survey  with  pleasure,  and  which  thou  mayest 
acknowledge  as  thine  own  image. 

"  I  am  sensible,  0  Lord,  I  have  not  as  yet  attained, 
yea,  my  soul  is  utterly  confounded  to  think  how  far 
I  am  from  being  already  perfect ;  but  this  one  thing, 
after  the  great  example  of  thine  apostle,  I  would  en- 
deavor to  do  :  '  forgetting  the  things  which  are  behind, 
I  would  press  forward  to  those  which  are  before.'  Phil. 
3  :  12,  13.  0  that  thou  wouldst  feed  my  soul  by  thy 
word  and  Spirit.  Having  been,  as  I  humbly  hope  and 
trust,  regenerated  by  it,  '  being  born  again,  not  of  cor- 
ruptible seed,  but  of  incorruptible,  even  by  thy  word, 
which  liveth  and  abideth  for  ever,'  1  Pet.  1  :  23,  'as  a 
new-born  babe,  I  desire  the  sincere  milk  of  the  word, 
that  I  may  grow  thereby.'  1  Pet.  2:2.  And  may 
'my  profiting  appear  unto  all  men,'  1  Tim.  4:15,  till 
at  length  '  I  come  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the  meas- 
ure of  the  stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ,'  Eph.  4 : 13  ,* 
and  after  having  enjoyed  the  pleasure  of  those  that 
flourish  eminently  in  thy  courts  below,  be  fixed  in 
the  paradise  above.  I  ask  and  hope  it  through  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ ;  '  to  him  be  glory, 
both  now  and  for  ever.'  2  Pet.  3:18.  Amen." 


400  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 


CHAPTER  XXVII, 

THE  ADVANCED  CHRISTIAN  REMINDED  OF  THE  MERCIES 
OF  GOD,  AND  EXHORTED  TO  THE  EXERCISE  OF  HABIT- 
UAL LOVE  TO  HIM,  AND  JOY  IN  HIM. 

1.  A  holy  joy  in  God  our  privilege  as  well  as  our  duty. — 2. 
The  Christian  invited  to  the  exercise  of  it. — 3.  By  the  consid- 
eration of  temporal  mercies. — 4.  And  of  spiritual  favors. — 5. 
By  the  views  of  eternal  happiness. — 6.  And  of  the  mercies  of 
God  to  others,  the  living  and  the  dead. — 7.  The  chapter  closes 
with  an  exhortation  to  this  heavenly  exercise.  And  with  an 
example  of  the  genuine  workings  of  this  grateful  joy  in  God. 

1.  I  WOULD  now  suppose  my  reader  to  find,  on  an 
examination  of  his  spiritual  state,  that  he  is  growing 
in  grace.  And  if  you  desire  that  this  growth  may  at 
once  be  acknowledged  and  promoted,  let  me  call  your 
soul  "  to  that  more  affectionate  exercise  of  love  to 
God  and  joy  in  him,"  which  suits,  and  strengthens, 
and  exalts  the  character  of  the  advanced  Christian ; 
and  which  I  beseech  you  to  regard,  not  only  as  your 
privilege,  but  as  your  duty  too.  Love  is  the  most 
sublime,  generous  principle  of  all  true  and  accepta- 
ble obedience ;  and  with  love,  when  so  wisely  and 
happily  fixed,  when  so  certainly  returned,  JOY,  pro- 
portionable JOY,  must  naturally  be  connected.  It 
may  justly  grieve  a  man  that  enters  into  the  spirit  of 
Christianity,  to  see  how  low  a  life  even  the  gener- 


GRATEFUL   JOY  IN  GOD.  4QJ 

ality  of  sincere  Christians  commonly  live  in  this  re- 
spect ;  "  Rejoice  then  in  the  Lord,  ye  righteous,  and 
give  thanks  at  the  remembrance  of  his  holiness,'* 
Psalm  97  :  12,  and  of  all  those  other  perfections  and 
glories  which  are  included  in  that  majestic,  that  won- 
derful, that  delightful  name,  THE  LORD  THY  GOD. 
Spend  not  your  sacred  moments  merely  in  confession 
or  in  petition,  though  each  must  have  their  daily 
share ;  but  give  a  part,  a  considerable  part,  to  the 
celestial  and  angelic  work  of  praise.  Yea,  labor  to 
carry  about  with  you  continually  a  heart  overflow- 
ing with  such  sentiments,  warmed  and  inflamed  with 
such  affections. 

2.  Are  there  not  continually  rays  enough  diffused 
from  the  great  Father  of  light  and  love  to  enkindle 
it  in  our  bosom  ?  Come,  my  Christian  friend  and 
brother,  come  and  survey  with  me  the  goodness  of 
our  heavenly  Father.  And  0  that  he  would  give 
me  such  a  sense  of  it,  that  I  might  represent  it  in  a 
suitable  manner ;  that  "  while  I  am  musing,  the  fire 
may  burn"  in  my  own  heart,  Psalm  39  : 3,  and  be 
communicated  to  yours.  And  0  that  it  might  pass, 
with  the  lines  I  write,  from  soul  to  soul,  awakening 
in  the  breast  of  every  Christian  that  reads  them,  sen- 
timents more  worthy  the  children  of  Grod  and  the 
heirs  of  glory,  who  are  to  spend  an  eternity  in  those 
sacred  exercises  to  which  I  am  now  endeavoring  to 
excite  you. 

Rise  niid  Prog.  26 


402  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

3.  Have  you  not  reason  to  adopt  the  words  of  Da- 
vid, and  say,  "  How  many  are  thy  gracious  thoughts 
unto  me,  0  Lord.  How  great  is  the  sum  of  them. 
When  I  would  count  them,  they  are  more  in  number 
than  the  sand."  Psalm  139  :  17,  18.  You  indeed 
know  where  to  begin  the  survey,  for  the  favors  of 
God  to  you  began  with  your  being.  Commemorate 
it  therefore  with  a  grateful  heart,  that  the  eyes  which 
<c  saw  your  substance,  being  yet  imperfect,"  beheld 
you  with  a  friendly  care  "when  you  were  made  in 
secret,"  and  have  watched  over  you  ever  since  ;  and 
that  the  hand  which  "  drew  the  plan  of  your  mem- 
bers, when  as  yet  there  was  none  of  them,"  Psalm 
139  :  15,  16,  not  only  fashioned  them  at  first,  but 
from  that  time  has  been  concerned  in  "  keeping  all 
your  bones,  so  that  none  of  them  is  broken,"  Psalm 
34  :  20,  and  that,  indeed,  it  is  to  this  you  owe  it  that 
you  live.  Look  back  upon  the  path  you  have  trod, 
from  the  day  that  God  brought  you  out  of  the  womb, 
and  say  whether  you  do  not,  as  it  were,  see  all  the 
road  thick  set  with  the  marks  and  memorials  of  the 
divine  goodness.  Recollect  the  places  where  you 
have  lived,  and  the  persons  with  whom  you  have 
most  intimately  conversed,  and  call  to  mind  the  mer- 
cies you  have  received  in  those  places,  and  from  those 
persons,  as  the  instruments  of  the  divine  care  and 
goodness.  Recollect  the  difficulties  and  dangers  with 
which  you  have  been  surrounded,  and  reflect  atten- 


GRATEFUL   JOY  IN   GOD.  403 

lively  on  what  God  hath  done  to  defend  you  from 
them,  or  to  carry  you  through  them.  Think  how 
often  there  has  been  but  a  step  between  you  and 
death,  and  how  suddenly  God  has  sometimes  inter- 
posed to  set  you  in  safety,  even  before  you  appre- 
hended your  danger.  Think  of  those  chambers  of 
illness  in  which  you  have  been  confined ;  and  from 
which  perhaps,  you  once  thought  you  should  go., 
forth  no  more ;  but  said,  with  Hezekiah,  in  the  cut- 
ting off  of  your  days,  "I  shall  go  to  the  gates  of  the 
grave  :  I  am  deprived  of  the  residue  of  my  years." 
Isaiah  38  :  10.  God  has,  it  may  be,  since  that  time, 
added  many  years  to  your  life  ;  and  you  know  not 
how  many  are  in  reserve,  or  how  much  usefulness 
and  happiness  may  attend  each.  Survey  your  cir- 
cumstances in  relative  life  ;  how  many  kind  friends 
are  surrounding  you  daily,  and  studying  how  they 
may  contribute  to  your  comfort.  Reflect  on  those 
remarkable  circumstances  in  providence  which  occa- 
sioned the  knitting  of  some  bonds  of  this  kind,  which 
next  to  those  which  join  your  soul  to  God,  you  num- 
ber among  the  happiest.  And  forget  not  in  how 
many  instances,  when  these  dear  lives  have  been 
threatened,  lives  perhaps  more  sensibly  dear  than 
your  own,  God  has  given  them  back  from  the  bor- 
ders of  the  grave,  and  so  added  new  endearments, 
arising  from  that  tender  circumstance,  to  all  your 
after-converse  with  them.  Nor  forget  in  how  gra- 


404  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

cious  a  manner  he  hath  supported  some  others  in 
their  last  moments,  and  enabled  them  to  leave  behind 
a  sweet  odor  of  piety,  which  hath  embalmed  their 
memories,  revived  you  when  ready  to  faint  under  the 
sorrows  of  the  last  separation,  and  on  the  whole,  made 
even  the  recollection  of  their  death  delightful. 

4.  But  it  is  more  than  time  that  I  lead  on  your 
thoughts  to  the  many  spiritual  mercies  which  God  has 
bestowed  upon  you.  Look  back,  as  it  were,  to  "  the 
rock  from  whence  you  were  hewn,  and  to  the  hole  of 
the  pit  from  whence  you  were  digged."  Isa.  51  : 1. 
Reflect  seriously  on  the  state  wherein  divine  grace  found 
you  :  under  how  much  guilt,  under  how  much  pollu- 
tion ;  in  what  danger,  in  wjiat  ruin.  Think  what  was, 
and  0  think,  with  yet  deeper  reflection,  what  would 
have  been  the  case.  The  eye  of  God,  which  penetrates 
into  eternity,  saw  what  your  mind,  amused  with  the 
trifles  of  the  present  time  and  sensual  gratification,  was 
utterly  ignorant  and  regardless  of :  it  saw  you  on  the 
borders  of  eternity,  and  pitied  you ;  saw  that  you 
would  in  a  little  time  have  been  such  a  helpless, 
wretched  creature  as  the  sinner  that  is  just  now  dead, 
and  has,  to  his  infinite  surprise  and  everlasting  ter- 
ror, met  his  unexpected  doom  ;  and  would,  like  him, 
stand  thunderstruck  in  astonishment  and  despair. 
This  God  saw,  and  he  pitied  you  ;  and  being  merci- 
ful to  you,  he  provided,  in  the  counsel  of  his  eternal 
Jove  and  grace,  a  Redeemer  for  you,  and  purchased 


GRATEFUL   JOY  IN   GOD.  405 

you  to  himself,  through  the  blood  of  his  Son — a  price 
which,  if  you  will  pause  upon  it,  and  think  seriously 
what  it  was,  must  surely  affect  you  to  such  a  de- 
gree as  to  make  you  fall  down  before  God  in  wonder 
and  shame,  to  think  it  should  ever  have  been  given 
for  you.  To  accomplish  these  blessed  purposes,  he 
sent  his  grace  into  your  heart ;  so  that,  though  "you 
were  once  darkness,  you  are  now  light  in  the  Lord." 
Eph.  5:8.  He  made  that  happy  change  which  you 
now  feel  in  your  soul,  and  "  by  his  Holy  Spirit,  which 
is  given  to. you,"  he  shed  abroad  that  principle  of  love, 
Rom.  5:5,  which  is  enkindled  by  this  review,  and 
now  flames  with  greater  ardor  than  before.  Thus 
far  he  hath  supported  you  in  your  Christian  course, 
and  "  having  obtained  help  from  him,"  it  is  that  you 
continue  even  to  this  day.  Acts  26  :  22.  He  hath 
not  only  blessed  you,  but  "made  you  a  blessing," 
Gen.  12:2;  and  though  you  have  not  been  so  useful 
as  that  holy  generosity  of  heart  which  he  has  excited 
would  have  engaged  you  to  desire,  yet  some  good  you 
have  done  in  the  station  in  which  he  has  fixed  you. 
Some  of  your  brethren  of  mankind  have  been  relieved ; 
perhaps,  too,  some  thoughtless  creature  reclaimed  to 
virtue  and  happiness  by  his  blessing  on  your  endeav- 
ors. Some  in  the  way  to  heaven  are  praising  God 
for  you  ;  and  some  perhaps,  already  there,  are  long- 
ing for  your  arrival,  that  they  may  thank  you,  in 
nobler  and  more  expressive  forms,  for  benefits,  the 


406  RISE    AND   PROGRESS. 

importance  of  which,  they  now  sufficiently  understand, 
though  while  here  they  could  never  conceive  it. 

5.  Christian,  look  around  on  the  numberless  bless- 
ings of  one  kind  and  of  another  with  which  you  are 
already  encompassed,  and  advance  your  prospect 
still  farther  to  what  faith  yet  discovers  within  the 
veil.  Think  of  those  now  unknown  transports  with 
which  thou  shalt  drop  every  burden  in  the  grave, 
and  thine  immortal  spirit  shall  mount,  light  and  joy- 
ful, holy  and  happy,  to  God,  its  original,  its  support, 
and  its  hope  ;  to  God,  the  source  of  being,  of  holiness, 
and  of  pleasure ;  to  Jesus,  through  whom  all  these 
blessings  are  derived  to  thee,  and  who  will  appoint 
thee  a  throne  near  to  his  own,  to  be  for  ever  a  spec- 
tator and  partaker  of  his  glory.  Think  of  the  rap- 
ture with  which  thou  shalt  attend  his  triumph  in  the 
resurrection- day,  and  receive  this  poor  mouldering, 
corruptible  body,  transformed  into  his  glorious  image ; 
and  then  think,  "  These  hopes  are  not  mine  alone, 
but  the  hopes  of  thousands  and  millions.  Multitudes, 
whom  I  number  among  the  dearest  of  my  friends 
upon  the  earth,  are  rejoicing  with  me  in  these  ap- 
prehensions and  views  ;  and  God  gives  me  sometimes 
to  see  the  smiles  on  their  cheeks,  the  sweet,  humble 
hope  that  sparkles  in  their  eyes  and  shines  through 
the  tears  of  tender  gratitude,  and  to  hear  that  little 
of  their  inward  complacency  and  joy  which  language 
can  express.  Yea,  and  multitudes  more,  who  were 


GRATEFUL   JOY    IN    GOD.  4C7 

once  equally  dear  to  me  with  these,  though  I  have  laid 
them  in  the  grave,  and  wept  over  their  dust,  are  living 
to  God,  living  in  the  possession  of  inconceivable  de- 
lights, and  drinking  large  draughts  of  the  water  of  life, 
which  flows  in  perpetual  streams  at  his  right  hand." 

6.  0  Christian,  thou  art  still  intimately  united  and 
allied  to  them.     Death  cannot  break  a  friendship 
thus  cemented,  and  it  ought  not  to  render  thee  insen- 
sible of  the  happiness  of  those  friends  for  whose  mem- 
ory thou  retainest  so  just  an  honor.     They  live  to 
God  as  his  servants ;  they  "  serve  him,  and  see  his 
face,"  Rev.  22:3,  4;  and  they  make  but  a  small 
part  of  that  glorious  assembly.     Millions,  equally 
worthy  of  thine  esteem  and  affection  with  themselves, 
inhabit  those  blissful  regions ;    and  wilt  thou  not 
rejoice  in  their  joy  ?     And  wilt  thou  not  adore  that 
everlasting  spring  of  holiness  and  happiness  from 
whence  each  of  their  streams  is  derived  ?     Yea,  I 
will  add,  while  the  blessed  angels  are  so  kindly  re- 
garding us,  while  they  are  ministering  to  thee,  0 
Christian,  and  bearing  thee  in  their  arms,  "as  an 
heir  of  salvation,"  Heb.  1  :  14,  wilt  thou  not  rejoice 
in  their  felicity  too  ?     And  wilt  thou  not  adore  that 
God  who  gives  them  all  the  superior  glory  of  their 
more  exalted  nature,  and  gives  them  a  heaven  which 
fills  them  with  blessedness  even  while  they  seem  to 
withdraw  from  it  that  they  may  attend  on  thee  ? 

7.  This,  and  infinitely  more  than  this,  the  blessed 


408  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

God  is,  and  was,  and  shall  ever  be.  The  felicities 
of  the  blessed  spirits  that  surround  his  throne,  and 
thy  felicities,  0  Christian,  are  immortal.  These 
heavenly  luminaries  shall  glow  with  an  undecaying 
flame,  and  thou  shalt  shine  and  burn  among  them 
when  the  sun  and  the  stars  are  gone  out.  Still  shall 
the  unchanging  Father  of  lights  pour  forth  his  beams 
upon  them ;  and  the  lustre  they  reflect  from  him, 
and  their  happiness  in  him,  shall  be  everlasting,  shall 
be  ever  growing.  Bow  down,  0  thou  child  of  God, 
thou  heir  of  glory — bow  down,  and  let  all  that  is 
within  thee  unite  in  one  act  of  grateful  love ;  and  let 
all  that  is  around  thee,  all  that  is  before  thee  in  the 
prospects  of  an  unbounded  eternity,  concur  to  elevate 
and  transport  thy  soul,  that  thou  mayest,  as  far  as 
possible,  begin  the  work  and  blessedness  of  heaven? 
in  falling  down  before  the  God  of  it,  in  opening  thine 
heart  to  his  gracious  influences,  and  in  breathing  out 
before  him  that  incense  of  praise  which  these  Avarm 
beams  of  his  presence  and  love  have  so  great  a  ten- 
dency to  produce,  and  to  ennoble  with  a  fragrancy 
resembling  that  of  his  paradise  above. 

THE  GRATEFUL  SOUL  REJOICING  IN  THE  BLESSINGS  OF 
PROVIDENCE  AND  GRACE,  AND  POURING  OUT  ITSELF 
BEFORE  GOD  IN  VIGOROUS  AND  AFFECTIONATE  EXEE- 
CISES  OF  LOVE  AND  PRAISE. 

"0  my  God,  it  is  enough;  I  have  mused,  and  'the 
fire  burneth.'     Psa.  39:3.     But  0.  in  what  Ian- 


GRATEFUL   JOY    IN  GOD.  409 

guage  shall  the  flame  break  forth  ?  "What  can  I  say 
but  this,  that  my  heart  admires  thee,  and  adores  thee; 
and  loves  thee  ?  My  little  vessel  is  as  full  as  it  can 
hold ;  and  I  would  pour  out  all  that  fulness  before 
thee,  that  it  may  grow  capable  of  receiving  more  and 
more.  Thou  art  '  my  hope  and  my  help ;  my  glory, 
and  the  lifter  up  of  my  head.'  Psa.  3:3.  '  My  heart 
rejoiceth  in  thy  salvation,'  Psa.  13  :  5;  and  when  I 
set  myself  under  the  influences  of  thy  good  Spirit  to 
converse  with  thee,  a  thousand  delightful  thoughts 
spring  up  at  once ;  a  thousand  sources  of  pleasure 
are  unsealed,  and  flow  in  upon  my  soul  with  such 
refreshment  and  joy,  that  they  seem  to  crowd  into 
every  moment  the  happiness  of  days,  and  weeks,  and 
months. 

"  I  bless  thee,  0  God,  for  this  soul  of  mine  which 
thou  hast  created ;  which  thou  hast  taught  to  say, 
and  I  hope  to  the  happiest  purpose,  'Where  is  God. 
my  Maker?'  Job  35  :  10.  I  bless  thee  for  the  know- 
ledge with  which  thou  hast  adorned  it.  I  bless  thee 
for  that  grace  with  which  I  trust  I  may — not  without 
humble  wonder — say,  thou  hast  sanctified  it ;  though, 
alas,  the  celestial  plant  is  fixed  in  too  barren  a  soil, 
and  does  not  flourish  to  the  degree  I  could  wish. 

"I  bless  thee  also  for  that  body  which  thou  hast 
given  me,  and  which  thou  preservest  as  yet  in  its 
strength  and  vigor,  not  only  capable  of  relishing  the 
entertainments  which  thou  providest  for  its  various 


410  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

senses,  but,  which  I  esteem  far  more  valuable  than 
any  of  them  for  its  own  sake,  capable  of  acting  with 
some  vivacity  in  thy  service.  I  bless  thee  for  that 
ease  and  freedom  with  which  these  'limbs  of  mine 
move  themselves,  and  obey  the  dictates  of  my  spirit, 
[  hope  as  guided  by  thine.  I  bless  thee  that  'the 
keepers  of  my  house  do  not  tremble,  nor  the  strong 
men  bow  themselves;'  that  they  'that  look  out  of 
the  windows  are  not  yet  darkened,  nor  the  daughters 
of  music  brought  low.'  I  bless  thee,  0  God  of  my 
life,  that  'the  silver  cord  is  not  yet  loosed,  nor  the 
golden  bowl  broken,'  Eccl.  12  :  3,  4,  6 ;  for  it  is  thine 
hand  that  braces  all  my  nerves,  and  thine  infinite 
skill  that  prepares  those  spirits  that  flow  in  so  freely, 
and  when  exhausted,  recruit  so  soon  and  so  plenti- 
fully. I  praise  thee  for  that  royal  bounty  with  which 
thou  providest  for  the  daily  support  of  mankind  in 
general,  and  for  mine  in  particular;  for  the  various 
tables  which  thou  spreadest  before  me,  and  for  the 
overflowing  cup  which  thou  'puttest  into  my  hands.' 
Psa.  23  :  5.  I  bless  thee  that  these  bounties  of  thy 
providence  do  not  serve  as  it  were  to  upbraid  a  dis- 
abled appetite,  and  are  not  '  like  messes  of  meat  set 
before  the  dead.'  I  bless  thee  too,  that  I  '  eat  not 
my  morsel  of  meat  alone,'  Job  31  : 17,  but  share  it 
with  so  many  agreeable  friends,  who  add  the  relish 
of  a  social  life  to  that  of  the  animal,  at  our  seasons 
of  common  repast.  I  thank  thee  for  so  many  dear 


GRATEFUL  JOY  IN   GOD.  411 

relatives  at  home,  for  so  many  kind  friends  abroad, 
who  are  capable  of  serving  me  in  various  instances, 
and  disposed  to  make  an  obliging  use  of  that  ca- 
pacity. 

"Nor  would  I  forget  to  acknowledge  thy  favor  in 
rendering  me  capable  of  serving  others,  and  giving 
me  in  any  instance  to  know  how  much  '  more  blessed 
it  is  to  give  than  to  receive/  Acts  20  :  35.  I  thank 
thee  for  a  heart  which  feels  the  sorrows  of  the  neces- 
sitous, and  a  mind  which  can  make  it  my  early  care 
and  refreshment  to  contrive,  according  to  my  little 
ability,  for  their  relief;  for  'this  also  cometh  forth 
from  thee,  0  Lord,'  Isa.  28  :  29,  the  great  Author  of 
every  benevolent  inclination,  of  every  prudent  scheme, 
of  every  successful  attempt  to  spread  happiness  around 
us,  or  in  any  instance  to  lessen  distress. 

"And  surely,  0  Lord,  if  I  thus  acknowledge  the 
pleasures  of  sympathy  with  the  afflicted,  much  more 
must  I  bless  thee  for  those  of  sympathy  with  the 
happy,  with  those  that  are  completely  blessed.  I 
adore  thee  for  the  streams  that  water  paradise,  and 
maintain  it  in  ever-flourishing,  ever-growing  delight. 
I  praise  thee  for  the  rest,  the  joy,  the  transport,  thou 
art  giving  to  many  that  were  once  dear  to  me  on 
earth,  whose  sorrows  it  was  my  labor  to  soothe,  and 
whose  joys,  especially  in  thee,  it  was  the  delight  of 
my  heart  to  promote.  I  praise  thee  for  the  blessed- 
ness of  every  saint,  and  of  every  angel  that  sur- 


412  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 

rounds  thy  throne  above;  and  I  praise  thee,  with 
accents  of  distinguished  pleasure  for  that  reviving 
hope  which  thou  hast  implanted  in  my  bosom,  that 
I  shall  ere  long  know,  by  clear  sight,  and  by  ever- 
lasting experience,  what  that  felicity  of  theirs  is 
which  I  now  only  discover  at  a  distance,  through 
the  comparatively  obscure  glass  of  faith.  Even  now, 
through  thy  grace,  do  I  feel  myself  borne  forward 
by  thy  supporting  arm  to  those  regions  of  blessed- 
ness. Even  now  am  I  'waiting  for  thy  salvation/ 
Gen.  49  :  18,  with  that  ardent  desire,  on  the  one 
hand,  which  its  sublime  greatness  cannot  but  inspire 
into  the  believing  soul,  and  that  calm  resignation  on 
the  other,  which  the  immutability  of  thy  promise 
establishes. 

"  And  now,  0  my  God,  what  shall  I  say  unto  thee  ? 
what  but  that  I  love  thee  above  all  the  powers  of 
language  to  express.  That  I  love  thee  for  what  thou 
art  to  thy  creatures,  who  are,  in  their  various  forms, 
every  moment  deriving  being,  knowledge,  and  happi- 
ness from  thee,  in  numbers  and  degrees  far  beyond 
what  my  narrow  imagination  can  conceive.  But  0, 
I  adore  and  love  thee  yet  far  more  for  what  thou 
art  in  thyself;  for  those  stores  of  perfection  which 
creation  has  not  diminished,  and  which  can  never  be 
exhausted  by  all  the  effects  of  it  which  thou  impart- 
est  to  thy  creatures ;  that  infinite  perfection  which 
makes  thee  thine  own  happiness,  thine  own  end; 


GRATEFUL  JOY  IN   GOD.  4J3 

amiable,  infinitely  amiable  and  venerable,  were  all 
derived  excellence  and  happiness  forgot. 

"0  -thou  first,  thou  greatest,  thou  fairest  of  all  ob- 
jects— thou  only  great,  thou  only  fair,  possess  all  my 
soul.  And  surely  thou  dost  possess  it.  While  I 
thus  feel  thy  sacred  Spirit  breathing  on  my  heart,  and 
exciting  these  fervors  of  love  to  thee,  I  cannot  doubt 
it  any  more  than  I  can  doubt  the  reality  of  this  ani- 
mal life,  while  I  exert  the  actings  of  it,  and  feel  its 
sensations.  Surely,  if  ever  I  knew  the  appetite  of 
hunger,  my  soul  'hungers  after  righteousness,'  Matt. 
5:6,  and  longs  for  a  greater  conformity  to  thy  blessed 
nature  and  holy  will.  If  ever  my  palate  felt  thirst, 
'my  soul  thirsteth  for  God,  even  for  the  living  God,' 
Psa.  42  :  2,  and  panteth  for  the  more  abundant  com- 
munion of  his  favor.  If  ever  this  body,  when  wea- 
ried with  labor  or  journies,  knew  what  it  was  to  wish 
for  the  refreshment  of  my  bed,  and  rejoice  to  rest 
there,  my  soul,  with  sweet  acquiescence,  rests  upon 
thy  gracious  bosom,  0  my  heavenly  Father,  and  re- 
turns to  its  repose  in  the  embraces  of  its  God,  *  who 
hath  dealt  so  bountifully  with  it.'  Psa.  116:7.  And 
if  ever  I  saw  the  face  of  a  beloved  friend  with  com- 
placency and  joy,  I  rejoice  in  beholding  thy  face,  0 
Lord,  and  in  calling  thee  my  Father  in  Christ.  Such 
thou  art,  and  such  thou  wilt  be,  for  time  and  for 
eternity.  What  have  I  more  to  do  but  to  commit 
myself  to  thee  for  both  ?  leaving  it  to  thee  to  '  choose 


414  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 

my  inheritance,'  and  to  order  my  affairs  for  me,  Psa. 
47  : 4,  while  all  my  business  is  to  serve  thee,  and  all 
my  delight  to  praise  thee.  'My  soul  follows  hard 
after  God,'  because  '  his  right  hand  upholds  me.'  Psa. 
63  :  8.  Let  it  still  bear  me  up,  and  I  shall  press  on 
towards  thee,  till  all  my  desires  be  accomplished  in 
the  eternal  enjoyment  of  thee.  Amen." 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


ACTIVE   BENEVOLENCE.  4]5 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

THE   ESTABLISHED  CHRISTIAN  URGED  TO  EXERT  HIM- 
SELF FOR  PURPOSES  OF  USEFULNESS. 

1,  2.  A  sincere  love  to  God  will  express  itself  not  only  in 
devotion,  but  in  benevolence  to  men. — 3.  This  is  the  command 
of  God. — 4.  The  true  Christian  feels  his  soul  wrought  to  a 
holy  conformity  to  it. — 5.  And  therefore  will  desire  instruction 
on  this  head. — 6.  Accordingly,  directions  are  given  for  the 
improvement  of  various  talents,  particularly  genius  and  learn- 
ing.— 7.  Power. — 8.  Domestic  authority. — 9.  Esteem. — 10. 
Riches. — 11.  Several  good  ways  of  employing  them  hinted 
at. — 12,  13.  Prudence  in  expense  urged,  for  the  support  of 
charity. — 14.  Divine  direction  in  this  respect  to  be  sought. 
The  Christian  breathing  after  more  extensive  usefulness. 

1.  SUCH  as  I  have  described  in  the  former  chap- 
ter, I  trust,  are  and  will  be  the  frequent  exercises  of 
your  soul  before  God.  Thus  will  your  love  and 
gratitude  breathe  itself  forth  in  the  divine  presence, 
and  will,  through  Jesus  the  great  Mediator,  come  up 
before  it  as  incense,  and  yield  an  acceptable  savor. 
But  then,  you  must  remember,  this  will  not  be  the 
only  effect  of  that  love  to  God  which  I  have  supposed 
so  warm  in  your  heart.  If  it  be  sincere,  it  will  not 
spend  itself  in  words  alone,  but  will  discover  itself  in 
actions,  and  will  produce  as  its  genuine  fruit,  an  un- 
feigned love  to  your  fellow-creatures,  and  an  unwea- 
ried desire  and  labor  to  do  them  good  continually. 


410  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

2.  "Has  the  great  Father  of  mercies,"  will  you 
say,  "looked  upon  me  with  so  gracious  an  eye  ;  has 
he  not  only  forgiven  me  ten  thousand  offences,  but 
enriched  me  with  such  a  variety  of  benefits  ?    0  what 
ehall  I  render  to  him  for  them  all  ?     Instruct  me,  O 
ye  oracles  of  eternal  truth.     Instruct  me,  ye  elder 
brethren  in  the  family  of  my  heavenly  Father.     In- 
struct me,  above  all,  0  thou  Spirit  of  wisdom  and 
love,  what  I  may  be  able  to  do,  to  express  my  love 
to  the  great  eternal  fountain  of  love,  and  to  approve 
my  fidelity  to  him  who  has  already  done  so  much  to 
engage  it,  and  who  will  take  so  much  pleasure  in 
owning  and  rewarding  it." 

3.  This,  0  Christian,  is  the  command  which  we 
have  heard  from  the  beginning,  and  it  will  ever  con- 
tinue in  uiiiinpaired  force,  "  that  he  who  loveth  God," 
should  "love  his  brother  also,"  1  John,  4  :  21,  and 
should  express  that  love,  "not  in  word  and  profes- 
sion alone,  but  in  deed  and  in  truth."     1  John,  3:18. 
You  are  to  love  your  neighbor  as  yourself — to  love 
the  whole  creation  of  God;  and,  so  far  as  your  in- 
fluence can  extend,  must  endeavor  to  make  it  happy. 

4.  "  Yes,"  will  you  not  say,  "  and  I  do  love  it.    •  I 
feel  the  golden  chain  of  divine  love  encircling  us  all, 
and  binding  us  close  to  each  other,  joining  us  in  one 
body,  and  diffusing,  as  it  were,  one  soul  through  all. 
May  happiness,  true   and   sublime,  perpetual    and 
ever-growing   happiness,  reign   through   the  whole 


ACTIVE  BENEVOLENCE.  417 

world  of  God's  rational  and  obedient  creatures  in 
heaven  and  on  earth.  And  may  every  revolted 
creature,  that  is  capable  of  being  recovered  and  re- 
stored, be  made  obedient.  Yea,  may  the  necessary 
punishment  of  those  who  are  irrecoverable,  be  over- 
ruled by  infinite  wisdom  and  love  to  the  good  of  the 
whole." 

5.  These  are  right  sentiments,  and  if  they  are 
indeed  the  sentiments  of  your  heart,  0  reader,  and 
not  an  empty  form  of  vain  words,  they  will  be  at- 
tended with  a  serious  concern  to  act  in  subordination 
to  this  great  scheme  of  divine  Providence,  according 
to  your  abilities,  in  their  utmost  extent.  And  to  this 
purpose,  they  will  put  you  on  surveying  the  peculiar 
circumstances  of  your  life  and  being,  that  you  may 
discover  what  opportunities  of  usefulness  they  now 
afford,  and  how  those  opportunities  and  capacities 
may  be  improved.  Enter  therefore  into  such  a  sur- 
vey, not  that  you  may  pride  yourself  in  the  distinc- 
tions of  divine  Providence  or  grace  towards  you,  or, 
"  having  received,  may  glory  as  if  you  had  not  re- 
ceived," 1  Cor.  4:7;  but  that  you  may  deal  faith- 
fully with  the  great  Proprietor,  whose  steward  you 
are,  and  by  whom  you  are  ^trusted  with  every 
talent,  which,  with  respect  to  any  claim  from  your 
fellow-creatures,  you  may  call  your  own.  And  here, 
"  having  gifts  differing  according  to  the  grace  that 
is  given  to  us,"  Jlom.  12:6,  let"  us  hold  the  balance 

Rise  aad  Prog,  27 


418  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

with  an  impartial  hand,  that  so  we  may  determine 
what  it  is  that  God  requires  of  us  ;  which  is  nothing 
less  than  doing  the  most  we  can  invent,  contrive,  and 
effect,  for  the  general  good.  But  0,  how  seldom  is 
this  estimate  faithfully  made.  And  how  much  does 
the  world  around  us,  and  how  much  do  our  own  souls 
suffer  for  want  of  that  fidelity. 

6.  Hath  God  given  you  genius  and  learning  ?     It 
was  not  that  you  might  amuse  or  deck  yourself  with 
it,  and  kindle  a  blaze  which  should  only  serve  to 
attract  and  dazzle  the  eyes  of  men.    It  was  intended 
to  be  the  means  of  leading  both  yourself  and  them 
to  the  Father  of  lights.     And  it  will  be  your  duty, 
according  to  the  peculiar  turn  of  that  genius  and 
capacity,  either  to  endeavor  to  improve  and  adorn 
human  life,  or  by  a  more  direct  application  of  it  to 
divine  subjects,  to  plead  the  cause  of  religion,  to  de- 
fend its  truths,  to  enforce  and  recommend  its  practice, 
to  deter  men  from  courses  which  would  be  dishonor- 
able to  God  and  fatal  to  themselves,  and  to  try  the 
utmost  efforts  of  all  the  solemnity  and  tenderness 
with  whidi  you  can  clothe  your  addresses,  to  lead 
them  into  the  paths  of  virtue  and  happiness. 

7.  Has  God  invested  you  with  power,  whether  it 
be  in  a  larger  or  smaller  society  ?     Remember  that 
this  power  was  given  you  that  God  might  be  hon- 
ored,   and    those    placed    under   your   government, 
whether  domestic  or  public,  might  be  made  happy. 


ACTIVE  BENEVOLENCE.  419 

Be  concerned,  therefore,  that  whether  you  be  in- 
trusted with  the  rod  or  the  sword,  it  may  "  not  be 
borne  in  vain."  Rom.  13  :  4.  Are  you  a  magis- 
trate ?  Have  you  any  share  in  the  great  and  tre- 
mendous charge  of  enacting  laws  ?  Reverence  the 
authority  of  the  supreme  Legislator,  the  great  Guar- 
dian of  society :  promote  none,  consent  to  none, 
which  you  do  not  in  your  own  conscience  esteem, 
in  present  circumstances,  an  intimation  of  his  will, 
and  in  the  establishment  of  which  you  do  not  firmly 
believe  you  shall  be  "  his  minister  for  good."  Rom. 
13:4.  Have  you  the  charge  of  executing  laws  ? 
Put  life  into  them  by  a  vigorous  and  strenuous  exe- 
cution, according  to  the  nature  of  the  particular  office 
you  bear.  Retain  not  an  empty  name  of  authority. 
Permit  not  yourself,  as  it  were,  to  fall  asleep  on  the 
tribunal.  Be  active,  be  wakeful,  be  observant  of 
what  passes  around  you.  Protect  the  upright  and 
the  innocent.  Break  in  pieces  the  power  of  the  op- 
pressor. Unveil  every  dishonest  heart.  Disgrace 
as  well  as  defeat  the  wretch  that  makes  his  distin- 
guished abilities  the  disguise  or  protection  of  the 
wickedness  which  he  ought  rather  to  endeavor  to 
expose,  and  to  drive  out  of  the  world  with  abhor- 
rence. 

8.  Are  you  placed  only  at  the  head  of  a  private 
family  ?  Rule  it  for  God.  Administer  the  concerns 
of  that  little  kingdom  with  the  same  views,  and  on 


420  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

the  same  principles,  which  I  have  been  inculcating 
on  the  powerful  and  the  great,  if,  by  any  unexpected 
accident,  any  of  them  should  suffer  their  eyes  to 
glance  upon  the  passage  above.  Your  children  and 
servants  are  your  natural  subjects.  Let  good  order 
be  established  among  them,  and  keep  them  under  a 
regular  discipline.  Let  them  be  instructed  in  the 
principles  of  religion,  that  they  may  know  how  rea- 
sonable such  a  discipline  is ;  and  let  them  be  ac- 
customed to  act  accordingly.  You  cannot  indeed 
change  their  hearts,  but  you  may  very  much  influ- 
ence their  conduct,  and  by  that  means  may  preserve 
them  from  many  snares,  may  do  a  great  deal  to 
make  them  good  members  of  society;  and  may  set 
them,  as  it  were,  "in  the  way  of  God's  steps," 
Psalm  85  : 13,  if  peradventure  passing  by  ne  may 
bless  them  with  the  riches  of  his  grace.  And  fail 
not  to  do  your  utmost  to*  convince  them  of  their 
need  of  those  blessings ;  labor  to  engage  them  to  a 
high  esteem  of  them,  and  to  an  earnest  desire  of 
them,  as  incomparably  more  valuable  than  anything 
else. 

9.  Again,  has  God  been  pleased  to  raise  you  to 
esteem  among  your  fellow-creatures,  which  is  not 
always  in  proportion  to  a  man's  rank  or  possession 
in  human  life  ?  Are  your  counsels  heard  with  atten- 
tion ?  Is  your  company  sought  ?  Does  God  give 
you  good  acceptance  in  the  eyes  of  men,  so  that  they 


ACTIVE  BENEVOLENCE.  421 

do  not  only  put  the  fairest  constructions  on  your 
words,  but  overlook  faults  of  which  you  are  conscious 
to  yourself,  and  consider  your  actions  and  perform- 
ances in  the  most  indulgent  and  favorable  light  ? 
You  ought  to  regard  this,  not  only  as  a  favor  of 
Providence,  and  as  an  encouragement  to  you  cheer- 
fully to  pursue  your  duty,  in  the  several  branches  of 
it,  for  the  time  to  come,  but  also,  as  giving  you  much 
greater  opportunities  of  usefulness  than  in  your  pres- 
ent station  you  could  otherwise  have  had.  If  your 
character  has  any  weight  in  the  world,  throw  it  into 
the  right  scale.  Endeavor  to  keep  virtue  and  good- 
ness in  countenance.  Affectionately  give  your  hand 
to  modest  worth,  where  it  seems  to  be  depressed  or 
overlooked ;  though  shining,  when  viewed  in  its 
proper  light,  with  a  lustre  which  you  may  think 
much  superior  to  your  own.  Be  an  advocate  for 
truth ;  be  a  counsellor  of  peace ;  be  an  example  of 
candor  ;  and  do  all  you  can  to  reconcile  the  hearts 
of  men,  especially  of  good  men,  to  each  other,  how- 
ever they  may  differ  in  their  opinions  about  matters 
which  it  is  possible  for  good  men  to  dispute.  And 
let  the  caution  and  humility  of  your  behavior,  in 
circumstances  of  such  superior  eminence,  and  amidst 
so  many  tokens  of  general  esteem,  silently  reprove 
the  rashness  and  haughtiness  of  those  who  perhaps 
are  remarkable  for  little  else  ;  or  who,  if  their  abili- 
ties were  indeed  considerable,  must  be  despised,  and 


422  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

whose  talents  must  be  in  a  great  measure  lost  to  the 
public,  till  that  rashness  and  haughtiness  of  spirit 
be  subdued.  Nor  suffer  yourself  to  be  interrupted 
in  this  generous  and  worthy  course,  by  the  little 
attacks  of  envy  and  calumny  which  you  may  meet. 
Be  still  attentive  to  the  general  good,  and  steadily 
resolute  in  your  efforts  to  promote  it ;  and  leave  it 
to  Providence  to  guard  or  to  rescue  your  character 
from  the  base  assaults  of  malice  and  falsehood,  which 
will  often,  without  your  labor,  confute  themselves, 
and  heap  upon  the  authors  greater  shame,  or  if  they 
are  inaccessible  to  that,  greater  infamy  than  your 
humanity  will  allow  you  to  wish  them. 

10.  Once  more,  has  God  blessed  you  with  riches  ? 
Has  he  placed  you  in  such  circumstances  that  you 
have  more  than  you  absolutely  need  for  the  subsist- 
ence of  yourself  and  your  family  ?  Remember  your 
approaching  account.  Remember  what  an  incum- 
brance  these  things  often  prove  to  men  in  the  way 
of  their  salvation,  and  how  often,  according  to  our 
Lord's  express  declaration,  they  render  it  "  as  difficult 
to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  it  is  for  a  camel 
to  go  through  the  eye  of  a  needle."  Matt.  19  :  24. 
Let  it  therefore  be  your  immediate,  your  earnest,  and 
your  daily  prayer,  that  riches  may  not  be  a  snare 
and  a  shame  to  you,  as  they  are  to  by  far  the  greater 
part  of  their  possessors.  Appropriate,  I  beseech  you, 
some  certain  part  and  proportion  of  your  estate  and 


ACTIVE  BENEVOLENCE.  423 

revenue  to  charitable  uses  ;  with  a  provisional  in- 
crease, as  God  shall  prosper  you,  in  any  extraordinary 
instance.  By  this  means  you  will  always  have  a 
fund  of  charity  at  hand ;  and  you  will  probably  be 
more  ready  to  communicate,  when  you  look  upon 
what  is  so  deposited  as  not  in  any  sense  your  own, 
but  as  already  actually  given  away  to  those  uses, 
though  not  yet  affixed  to  particular  objects.  It  is 
not  for  me  to  say  what  that  proportion  ought  to  be. 
To  those  who  have  large  revenues,  and  no  children, 
perhaps  a  third  or  one  half  may  be  too  little ;  to 
those  whose  incomes  are  small,  and  their  charge  con- 
siderable, though  they  have  something  more  than  is 
absolutely  necessary,  it  is  possible  a  tenth  may  be 
too  much.  But  pray  -that  God  would  guide  your 
mind ;  make  a  trial  for  one  year,  on  such  terms  as 
in  your  conscience  you  think  will  be  most  pleasing 
to  him  ;  and  let  your  observations  on  that  teach  you 
to  fix  your  proportion  for  the  next :  always  remem- 
bering, that  he  requires  justice  in  the  first  place,  and 
alms-deeds  only  so  far  as  may  consist  with  that. 
Yet,  at  the  same  time,  take  heed  of  that  treacherous, 
delusive,  and,  in  many  instances,  destructive  imag- 
ination, "  that  justice  to  your  own  family  requires 
that  you  should  leave  your  children  very  rich  ;  which 
has  perhaps  cost  some  parsimonious  parents  the  lives 
of  those  darlings  for  whom  they  laid  up  the  portion 
of  the  poor ;  and  what  fatal  consequences  of  divine 


424  RISE  AND   PROGRESS. 

displeasure  may  attend  it  to  those  that  yet  survive, 
God  only  knows ;  and  I  heartily  pray  that  you  or 
yours  may  never  learn  by  experience. 

11.  And  that  your  heart  may  be  yet  more  opened, 
and  that  your  charity  may  be  directed  to  the  best 
purposes,  let  me  briefly  mention  a  variety  of  good 
uses  which  may  call  for  the  consideration  of  those 
whom  God  has  in  this  respect  distinguished  by  an 
ability  to  do  good.  To  assist  the  hints  I  am  to  offer, 
look  round  on  the  neighborhood  in  which  you  live. 
Think  how  many  honest  and  industrious,  perhaps 
too  I  might  add,  religious  people,  are  making  very 
hard  shifts  to  struggle  through  life.  Think  what  a 
comfort  that  would  be  to  them,  which  you  might 
without  any  inconvenience  spare  from  that  abun- 
dance which  God  hath  given  you.  Hearken  also  to 
any  extraordinary  calls  of  charity  which  may  happen, 
especially  those  of  a  public  nature,  and  help  them 
forward  with  your  example,  and  your  interest  in 
them,  which  perhaps  may  be  of  much  greater  im- 
portance than  the  sum  which  you  contribute,  con- 
sidered in  itself.  Have  a  tongue  to  plead  for  the 
necessitous,  as  well  as  a  hand  to  relieve  them ;  and 
endeavor  to  discountenance  those  poor  shameful  ex- 
cuses, which  covetousness  often  dictates  to  those 
whose  art  may  indeed  set  some  varnish  on  what 
they  suggest,  but  so  slight  a  one,  that  the  coarse 
ground  will  appear  through  it.  See  how  many  poor 


ACTIVE  BENEVOLENCE.  425 

children  are  wandering  naked  and  ignorant  about 
the  streets,  and  in  the  way  to  all  kinds  of  vice  and 
misery ;  and  consider  what  can  be  done  towards 
clothing  some  of  them  at  least,  and  instructing  them 
in  the  principles  of  religion.  Would  every  thriving 
family  in  a  town,  who  are  able  to  afford  help  on  such 
occasions,  cast  a  pitying  eye  on  one  poor  family  in  its 
neighborhood,  and  take  it  under  their  patronage,  to 
assist  in  feeding,  and  clothing,  and  teaching  the  chil- 
dren, in  supporting  it  in  affliction,  in  defending  it 
from  wrongs,  and  in  advising  those  that  have  the 
management  of  it,  as  circumstances  might  require, 
how  great  a  difference  would  soon  be  produced  in  the 
character  and  circumstances  of  the  community ! 
Observe  who  are  sick,  that  if  there  be  no  public 
infirmary  at  hand  to  which  you  can  introduce  them, 
where  your  contribution  will  yield  the  largest  in- 
crease, you  may  do  something  towards  relieving  them 
at  home,  and  supplying  them  with  advice  and  medi- 
cines, as  well  as  with  proper  diet  and  attendance. 
Consider  also  the  spiritual  necessities  of  men :  in 
providing  for  which,  I  would  particularly  recommend 
to  you  the  very  important  and  noble  charity  of  as- 
sisting young  persons  of  genius  and  piety  with  what 
is  necessary  to  support  the  expense  of  their  education 
for  the  ministry,  in  the  proper  course  of  grammatical 
or  academical  studies.  And  grudge  not  some  proper-* 
tion  of  what  God  hath  given  you  to  those  who,  re- 


426  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

signing  all  temporal  views  to  minister  to  you  the 
Gospel  of  Christ,  have  surely  an  equitable  claim  to 
be  supported  by  you,  in  a  capacity  of  rendering  you 
those  services,  however  laborious,  to  which,  for  your 
sakes,  and  that  of  our  common  Lord,  they  have  de- 
voted their  lives.  And  while  you  are  so  abundantly 
"  satisfied  with  the  goodness  of  God's  house,  even  of 
his  holy  temple,"  Psalm  65  :  4,  have  compassion  on 
those  who  dwell  in  a  desert  land ;  and  rejoice  to  do 
something  towards  sending  among  the  distant  nations 
of  the  heathen  world,  that  glorious  Gospel  which 
hath  so  long  continued  unknown  to  multitudes, 
though  the  knowledge  of  it,  with  becoming  regard, 
be  life  everlasting.  These  are  a  few  important  char- 
ities which  I  would  point  out  to  those  whom  Provi- 
dence has  enriched  with  its  peculiar  bounties ;  and 
it  renders  gold  more  precious  than  it  could  appear  in 
any  other  light,  that  it  is  capable  of  being  employed 
for  such  purposes.  But  if  you  should  not  have  gold 
to  spare  for  them,  contribute  your  silver;  or,  as  a 
farthing  or  a  mite  is  not  overlooked  by*  God,  when  it 
is  given  from  a  truly  generous  and  charitable  heart, 
Mark  12  :  42,  43,  let  that  be  cheerfully  dropped  into 
the  treasury,  where  richer  offerings  cannot  be  af- 
forded. 

12.  And  that,  amidst  so  many  pressing  demands 
for  charity,  you  may  be  better  furnished  to  answei 
them,  seriously  reflect  on  your  manner  of  living.  I 


ACTIVE  BENEVOLENCE.  427 

say  not  that  God  requires  you  should  become  one  of 
the  many  poor  relieved  out  of  your  income.  The 
support  of  society,  as  at  present  established,  will  not 
only  permit,  but  require,  that  some  persons  should 
allow  themselves  in  the  elegances  and  delights  of 
life  ;  by  furnishing  which,  multitudes  of  poor  families 
are  much  more  creditably  and  comfortably  subsisted, 
with  greater  advantage  to  themselves  and  safety  to 
the  public,  than  they  could  be,  if  the  price  of  their 
labors,  or  of  the  commodities  in  which  they  deal, 
were  to  be  given  them  as  alms ;  nor  can  I  imagine 
it  grateful  to  God,  that  his  gifts  should  be  refused,  as 
if  they  were  meant  for  snares  &nd  curses  rather  than 
benefits.  This  were  to  frustrate  the  benevolent  pur- 
poses of  the  gracious  Father  of  mankind,  and  if  car- 
ried to  its  rigor,  would  be  a  sort  of  conspiracy  against 
the  whole  system  of  nature.  Let  the  bounties  of 
Providence  be  used ;  but  let  us  carefully  see  to  it, 
that  it  be  in  a  moderate  and  prudent  manner,  lest  by 
our  own  folly,  "that  which  should  have  been  for  our 
welfare,  become  a  trap."  Psalm  69  :  22.  Let  con- 
science say,  my  dear  reader,  with  regard  to  yourself, 
what  proportion  of  the  good  things  you  possess  your 
heavenly  Father  intends  for  yourself,  and  what  for 
your  brethren  ;  and  live  not  as  if  you  had  no  breth- 
ren— as  if  pleasing  yourself  in  all  the  magnificence 
and  luxury  you  can  devise,  were  the  end  for  which 
you  were  sent  into  the  world.  I  fear  this  is  the  ex 


428  RISE   AND   PROGRESS. 

cess  of  the  present  age,  and  not  an  excess  of  rigor  and 
mortification.  Examine,  therefore,  your  expenses, 
and  compare  them  with  your  income.  That  may 
be  shamefully  extravagant  in  you,  which  may  not 
only  be  pardonable,  but  commendable  in  another  of 
superior  estate.  Nor  can  you  be  sure  that  you  do 
not  exceed,  merely  because  you  do  not  plunge  your- 
self into  debt,  nor  render  yourself  incapable  of  laying 
up  any  thing  for  your  family.  If  you  be  disabled 
from  doing  any  thing  for  the  poor,  or  any  thing  pro- 
portionable to  your  rank  in  life,  by  that  genteel  and 
elegant  way  of  living  which  you  affect,  God  must 
disapprove  of  such  a  conduct ;  and  you  ought,  as  you 
will  answer, to  him,  to  retrench  it.  And  though  the 
divine  indulgence  will  undoubtedly  be  exercised  to 
those  in  whom  there  is  a  sincere  principle  of  faith 
in  Christ,  and  undissembled  love  to  God  and  man, 
though  it  act  not  to  that  height  of  beneficence  and 
usefulness  which  might  have  been  attained  ;  yet  be 
assured  of  this,  that  he,  who  rendereth  to  every  one 
according  to  his  works,  will  have  a  strict  regard  to 
the  degrees  of  goodness  in  the  distribution  of  final 
rewards ;  so  that  every  neglected  opportunity  draws 
after  it  an  irreparable  loss,  which  will  go  into  eter- 
nity along  with  you.  And  let  me  add,  too,  that 
every  instance  of  negligence  indulged,  renders  the 
mind  still  more  and  more  indolent  and  weak,  and 
consequently  more  indisposed  to  recover  the  ground 


ACTIVE  BENEVOLENCE.  429 

which  has  been  lost,  or  even  to  maintain  that  which 
has  been  hitherto  kept. 

13.  Complain  not  that  this  is  imposing  hard  things 
upon  you.    I  am  only  directing  your  pleasures  into  a 
nobler  channel ;  and  indeed  that  frugality  which  is 
the  source  of  such  a  generosity,  far  from  being  at  all 
injurious  to  your  reputation,  will  rather,  among  wise 
and  good  men,  greatly  promote  it.     But  you  have 
far  nobler  motives  before  you  than  those  which  arise 
from  their  regards.     I  speak  to  you  as  to  a  child  of 
God,  and  a  member  of  Christ ;  as  joined,  therefore, 
by  the  most  intimate  union,  to  all  the  poorest  of 
those  that  believe  in  him.     I  speak  to  you  as  to  an 
heir  of  eternal  glory,  who  ought  therefore  to  have 
sentiments  great  and  sublime,  in  some  proportion  to 
that  expected  inheritance. 

14.  Cast  about,  therefore,  in  your  thoughts  what 
good  is  to  be  done,  and  what  you  can  do,  either  in 
your  own  person,  or  by  your  interest  with  others ; 
and  go  about  it  with  resolution,  as  in  the  name  and 
presence  of  the  Lord.     And  as  "  the  Lord  giveth 
xvisdom,  and  out  of  his  mouth  cometh  knowledge 
and  understanding,'*  Prov.  2:6,  go  to  the  footstool 
of  his  throne,  and  there  seek  that  guidance  and  that 
grace  which  may  suit  your  present  circumstances, 
and  may  be  effectual  to  produce  the  fruits  of  holiness 
and  usefulness,  to  his  more  abundant  glory,  and  to 
the  honor  of  your  Christian  profession. 


430  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

THE  ESTABLISHED  CHRISTIAN  BREATHING  AFTER  MORE 
EXTENSIVE  USEFULNESS. 

"  0  bountiful  Father,  and  sovereign  Author  of  all 
good,  whether  natural  or  spiritual,  I  bless  thee  for 
the  various  talents  with  which  thou  hast  enriched  so 
undeserving  a  creature  as  I  must  acknowledge  my- 
self to  be.  My  soul  is  in  the  deepest  confusion  before 
thee,  when  I  consider  to  how  little  purpose  I  have 
hitherto  improved  them.  Alas,  what  have  I  done, 
in  proportion  to  what  thou  mightest  reasonably  have 
expected,  with  the  gifts  of  nature  which  thou  hast 
bestowed  upon  me,  with  my  capacities  of  life,  with 
my  time,  with  my  talents,  with  my  possessions,  with 
my  influence  over  others.  Alas,  through  my  own 
negligence  and  folly,  I  look  back  on  a  barren  wilder- 
ness, where  I  might  have  seen  a  fruitful  field,  and  a 
springing  harvest.  Justly  do  I  indeed  deserve  to  be 
stripped  of  all,  to  be  brought  to  an  immediate  ac- 
count for  all ;  to  be  condemned,  as  in  many  respects 
unfaithful  to  thee,  and  to  the  world,  and  to  my  own 
soul ;  and,  in  consequence  of  that  condemnation,  to 
be  cast  into  the  prison  of  eternal  darkness.  But 
thou,  Lord,  hast  freely  forgiven  the  dreadful  debt  of 
ten  thousand  talents.  Adored  be  thy  name  for  it. 
Accept,  0  Lord,  accept  that  renewed  surrender  which 
I  would  now  make  of  myself,  and  of  all  I  have,  unto 
thy  service.  I  acknowledge  that  it  is  '  of  thine  own 
that  I  give  thee.'  1  Chron.  29  :  14.  Make  me;  I 


PRAYER  TO  BE  USEFUL,  431 

beseech  th.ee,  a  faithful  steward  for  my  great  Lord ; 
and  may  I  think  of  no  separate  interest  of  my  own, 
in  opposition  to  thine. 

"  I  adore  thee,  0  thou  God  of  all  grace,  if  while  I 
am  thus  "speaking  to  thee,  I  feel  the  love  of  thy  crea- 
tures arising  in  my  soul ;  if  I  feel  my  heart  opening 
to  embrace  my  brethren  of  mankind.  0  make  me 
thy  faithful  almoner,  in  distributing  to  them  all  that 
thou  hast  lodged  in  mine  hand  for  their  relief.  And 
in  determining  what  is  my  own  share,  may  I  hold 
the  balance  with  an  equal  hand,  and  judge  impar- 
tially between  myself  and  them.  The  proportion 
thou  allowest,  may  I  thankfully  take  for  myself  and 
those  who  are  immediately  mine.  The  rest  may  I 
distribute  with  wisdom,  and  fidelity,  and  cheerful- 
ness. Guide  my  hand,  0  ever-merciful  Father,  while 
thou  dost  me  the  honor  to  make  me  thine  instrument 
in  dealing  out  a  few  of  thy  bounties,  that  I  may  be- 
stow them  where  they  are  most  needed,  and  where 
they  will  answer  the  best  end.  And  if  it  be  thy  gra- 
cious will,  do  thou  '  multiply  the  seed  sown,'  2  Cor. 
9:10;  prosper  me  in  my  worldly  affairs,  that  I  may 
have  more  to  impart  to  them  that  need  it ;  and  thus 
lead  me  on  to  the  region  of  everlasting  plenty,  and 
everlasting  benevolence.  There  may  I  meet  with 
many  to  whom  I  have  been  an  affectionate  benefac- 
tor on  earth ;  and  if  it  be  thy  blessed  will,  with 
many  whom  I  have  also  been  the  means  of  conduct- 


432  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

ing  into  the  path  to  that  blissful  abode.  There  may 
they  entertain  me  in  their  habitations  of  glory.  And 
in  time  and  eternity,  do  thou,  Lord,  accept  the  praise 
of  all,  through  Jesus  Christ,  at  whose  feet  I  would 
bow,  and  at  whose  feet,  after  the  most  useful  course, 
I  would  at  last  die,  with  as  much  humility  as  if  I 
were  then  exerting  the  first  act  of  faith  upon  him, 
and  had  never  had  any  opportunity,  by  one  tribute 
of  obedience  and  gratitude  in  the  services  of  life,  to 
approve  its  sincerity. " 


DEATH  WELCOMED.  433 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

THE   CHRISTIAN   REJOICING   IN   THE   VIEWS   OF   DEATH 
AND  JUDGMENT. 

1.  Death  and  judgment  are  near ;  but  the  Christian  has  rea- 
son to  welcome  both. — 2.  Yet  nature  recoils  from  the  solem- 
nity of  them. — 3.  An  attempt  to  reconcile  the  mind  to  the 
prospect  of  death. — 4.  From  the  consideration  of  the  many 
evils  that  surround  us  in  this  mortal  life. — 5.  Of  the  remainder 
of  sin  which  we  feel  within  us. — 6,  7.  And  of  the  happiness 
which  is  immediately  to  succeed  death. — 8.  All  which  might 
make  the  Christian  willing  to  die,  in  the  most  agreeable  cir- 
cumstances of  human  life. — 9.  The  Christian  has  reason  to 
rejoice  in  the  prospect  of  judgment. — 10.  Since,  however  awful 
it  may  be,  Christ  will  then  come  to  vindicate  his  honor,  to  dis- 
play his  glory,  and  to  triumph  over  his  enemies. — 11.  As  also 
to  complete  the  happiness  of  every  believer. — 12,  13.  And  of 
the  whole  church. — The  meditation  of  a  Christian  whose  heart 
is  warmed  with  these  prospects. 

1 .  WHEN  the  visions  of  the  Lord  were  closing  upon 
John,  the  beloved  disciple,  in  the  island  of  Patmos, 
it  is  observable  that  he  who  gave  him  that  revela- 
tion, even  Jesus,  the  faithful  and  true  witness,  con- 
cludes with  these  lively  and  important  words  :  "  He 
who  testifieth  these  things  saith,  Surely  I  come 
quickly ;"  and  John  answered  with  the  greatest 
readiness  and  pleasure,  "Amen ;  even  so,  come,  Lord 
Jesus."  Come,  as  thou  hast  said,  surely  and  quickly. 

Rise  and  Prog.  28 


434  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

And  remember,  0  Christian,  whoever  you  are,  that 
are  now  reading  these  words,  your  divine  Lord  speaks 
in  the  same  language  to  you,  "  Behold,  I  come 
quickly."  Yes,  very  quickly  will  he  come  by  death, 
to  turn  the  key,  to  open  the  door  of  the  grave  for 
thine  admittance  thither,  and  to  lead  thee  through, 
it  into  the  now  unknown  regions  of  the  invisible, 
world.  Nor  is  it  long  before  "  the  Judge  who  stand- 
eth  at  the  door,"  James  5  :  9,  will  appear  also  for 
universal  judgment ;  and  though,  perhaps,  not  only 
scores,  but  hundreds  of  years  will  lie  between  that 
period  and  the  present  moment,  yet  it  is  but  a  very 
small  point  of  time  to  Him  who  views  at  once  all 
the  immeasurable  ages  of  a  past  and  future  eternity. 
"A  thousand  years  are  with  him  but  as  one  day, 
and  one  day  as  a  thousand  years."  2  Pet.  3:8.  In 
both  these  senses,  then,  does  he  come  quickly.  And 
I  trust  you  can  answer,  with  a  glad  Amen,  that  the 
warning  is  not  terrible  or  unpleasant  to  your  ears ; 
but  rather  that  his  coming,  his  certain,  his  speedy 
coming,  is  the  object  of  your  delightful  hope,  and  of 
your  longing  expectation. 

2.  I  am  sure  it  is  reasonable  it  should  be  so  ;  and 
yet  perhaps  nature,  fond  of  life,  and  unwilling  to  part 
with  a  long  known  abode,  to  enter  on  a  state  to  which 
it  is  entirely  a  stranger,  may  recoil  from  the  thoughts 
of  dying ;  or,  struck  with  the  awful  pomp  of  an  ex- 
piring and  dissolving  world,  may  look  on  the  judg- 


DEATH  WELCOMED.  435 

ment-day  with  some  mixture  of  terror.  And  there- 
fore, my  dear  brother  in  the  Lord,  for  such  I  can 
now  esteem  you,  I  would  reason  with  you  a  little  on 
this  head,  and  would  entreat  you  to  look  more  atten- 
tively on  this  solemn  subject ;  which  will,  I  trust, 
grow  less  disagreeable  to  you,  as  it  is  more  familiarly 
viewed.  Nay,  I  hope,  that  instead  of  starting  back 
from  it,  you  will  rather  spring  forward  towards  ifc 
with  joy  and  delight. 

3.  Think,  0  Christian,  when  Christ  comes  to  call 
you  away  by  death,  he  comes  to  set  you  at  liberty 
from  your  present  sorrows,  to  deliver  you  from  your 
struggles  with  remaining  corruption,  and  to  receive 
you  to  dwell  with  himself  in  complete  holiness  and 
joy.     You  shall  "  be  absent  from  the  body,  and  be 
present  with  the  Lord."     2  Cor.  5  :  8. 

4.  He  will  indeed  call  you  away  from  this  world ; 
but  0,  what  is  this  world,  that  you  should  be  fond 
of  it,  and  cling  to  it  with  so  much  eagerness  ?    How 
low  are  all  those  enjoyments  that  are  peculiar  to  it, 
and  how  many  its  vexations,  its  snares,  and  its  sor- 
rows.    Review  your  pilgrimage  thus  far ;  and  though 
you  must  acknowledge  that  "goodness  and  mercy 
have  followed  you  all  the  days  of  your  life,"  Psalm 
23  :  6,  yet  has  not  that  very  mercy  itself  planted 
some  thorns  in  your  path,  and  given  you  some  wise 
and  necessary,  yet  painful  intimations,  that  "  this/is 
not  your  rest?"     Mic,  2:10      Review  the  monu- 


436  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

ments  of  your  withered  joys,  of  your  blasted  hopes,  if 
there  be  yet  any  monuments  of  them  remaining  more 
than  a  mournful  remembrance  they  have  left  behind 
in  your  afflicted  heart.  Look  upon  the  graves  that 
have  swallowed  up  many  of  your  dearest  and  most 
amiable  friends,  perhaps  in  the  very  bloom  of  life, 
and  in  the  greatest  intimacy  of  your  converse  with 
them,  and  reflect,  that  if  you  continue  a  few  years 
more,  death  will  renew  his  conquests  at  your  expense, 
and  devour  the  most  precious  of  those  that  yet  sur- 
vive. View  the  living  as  well  as  the  dead — behold 
the  state  of  human  nature  under  the  many  grievous 
marks  of  its  apostasy  from  God,  and  say  whether  a 
wise  and  good  man  would  wish  to  continue  always 
here.  Methinks,  were  I  myself  secure  from  being 
reached  by  any  of  the  arrows  that  fly  around  me,  I 
could  not  but  mourn  to  see  the  wounds  that  are  given 
by  them,  and  to  hear  the  groans  of  those  that  are 
continually  falling  under  them.  The  diseases  and 
calamities  of  mankind  are  so  many,  and,  which  is 
most  grievous  of  all,  the  distempers  of  their  minds 
are  so  various,  and  so  threatening,  that  the  world 
appears  like  a  hospital ;  and  a  man  whose  heart  is 
tender,  is  ready  to  feel  his  spirits  broken  as  he  walks 
through  it  and  surveys  the  sad  scene ;  especially  when 
he  sees  how  little  he  can  do  for  the  recovery  of  those 
whom  he  pities.  Are  you  a  Christian,  and  does  it 
not  pierce  your  heart  to  see  how  human  nature  is 


DEATH  WELCOMED.  437 

sunk  in  vice  and  in  shame  ;  to  see  with  what  amaz- 
ing insolence  some  are  making  themselves  openly 
vile,  and  how  the  name  of  Christ  is  dishonored  by 
too  many  that  call  themselves  his  people  ;  to  see 
the  unlawful  deeds  and  filthy  practices  of  them  that 
live  ungodly ;  and  to  behold,  at  the  same  time,  the 
infirmities  at  least,  and  irregularities  of  those  con- 
cerning whom  we  have  better  hopes  ?  And  do  you 
not  wish  to  escape  from  such  a  world,  where  a  right- 
eous and  compassionate  soul  must  be  vexed  from  day 
to  day  by  so  many  spectacles  of  sin  and  misery  ?  2 
Peter,  2:8. 

5.  Yea,  to  come  nearer  home,  do  you  not  feel 
something  within  you  which  you  long  to  quit,  and 
which  would  imbitter  even  paradise  itself;  some- 
thing which,  were  it  to  continue,  would  grieve  and 
distress  you  even  in  the  society  of  the  blessed  ?  Do 
you  not  feel  a  remainder  of  indwelling  sin,  the  sad 
consequence  of  the  original  revolt  of  our  nature  from 
God  ?  Are  you  not  struggling  every  day  with  .some 
residue  of  corruption,  or  at  least  mourning  on  account 
of  the  weakness  of  your  graces  ?  Do  you  not  often 
find  your  spirits  dull  and  languid,  when  you  would 
desire  to  raise  them  to  the  greatest  fervor  in  the  ser- 
vice of  God  ?  Do  you  not  find  your  heart  too  often 
insensible  of  the  richest  instances  of  his  love,  and 
your  hands  feeble  in  his  service,  even  when  "  to  will 
Is  present  with  you  ?"  Rom.  7:18,  Does  not  your 


438  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

life,  in  its  best  days  and  hours,  appear  a  low,  unprof- 
itable thing,  when  compared  with  what  you  are  sen- 
sible it  ought  to  be,  and  with  what  you  wish  that  it 
were  ?  Are  you  not  frequently,  as  it  were,  "  stretch- 
ing the  pinions  of  the  mind,"  and  saying,  "  0  that  I 
had  wings  like  a  dove,  that  I  might  fly  away  and  be 
at  rest?"  Psalm  55  :  6. 

6.  Should  you  not  then  rejoice  in  the  thought,  that 
Jesus  comes  to  deliver  you  from  these  complaints ; 
that  he  comes  to  answer  your  wishes,  and  to  fulfil 
the  largest  desires  of  your  hearts — those  desires  that 
he  himself  has  inspired ;  that  he  comes  to  open  upon 
you  a  world  of  purity  and  joy — of  active,  exalted, 
and  unwearied  services  ? 

7.  0  Christian,  how  often  have  you  cast  a  longing 
eye  towards  those  happy  shores,  and  wished  to  pass 
the  sea,  the  boisterous,  unpleasant,  dangerous  sea, 
that  separates  you  from  them.     When  -your  Lord 
has  condescended  to  make  you  a  short  visit  in  his 
ordinances  on  earth,  how  have  you  blessed  the  time 
and  the  place,  and  pronounced  it,  amidst  many  other 
disadvantages  of  situation,  to  be  "  the  very  gate  of 
heaven."     Gen.  28  :  17.     And  is  it  so  delightful  to 
behold  tliis  gate ;  and  will  it  not  be  much  more  so 
to  enter  into  it  ?     Is  it  so  delightful  to  receive  the 
visits  of  Jesus  for  an  hour ;  and  will  it  not  be  infi- 
nitely more  so  to  dwell  with  him  for  ever  ?     "  Lord," 
may  you  well  say,  "  when  I  dwell  with  thee,  I  shall 


DEATH    WELCOMED.  439 

dwell  in  holiness,  for  tho-u  thyself  art  holiness ;  in 
love,  for  thou  thyself  art  love  :  I  shall  dwell  in  joy, 
for  thou  art  the  fountain  of  joy,  as  thou  art  in  the 
Father,  and  the  Father  in  thee."  John  17  :  21.  Bid 
welcome  to  his  approach,  therefore,  to  take  you  at 
your  word,  and  to  fulfil  to  you  that  saying  of  his  on 
which  your  soul  has  so  often  rested  with  heavenly 
peace  and  pleasure  :  "  Father,  I  will  that  they  whom 
thou  hast  given  me  be  with  me  where  I  am,  that 
they  may  behold  my  glory  which  thou  hast  given 
me."  John  17  :  24. 

8.  Surely  you  may  say  in  this  view,  "  The  sooner 
Christ  comes  the  better."     What  though  the  residue 
of  your  days  be  cut  off  in  the  midst  ?     What  though 
you  leave  many  expected  pleasures  in  life  untasted, 
and  many  schemes  unaccomplished  ?    Is  it  not  enough, 
that  what  is  taken  from  a  mortal  life,  shall  be  added 
to  a  glorious  eternity  ;  and  that  you  shall  spend  those 
days  and  years  in  the  presence  and  service  of  Christ 
in  heaven,  which  you  might  otherwise  have  spent 
with  him  and  for  him,  in  the  imperfect  enjoyment 
and  labors  of  earth  ? 

9.  But  your  prospects  reach  not  only  beyond  death, 
but  beyond  the  separate  state.     For  with  regard  to 
his  final  appearance  to  judgment,  our  Lord  says, 
"  Surely  I  come  quickly,"  in  the  sense  illustrated  be- 
fore ;  and  so  it  will  appear  to  us,  if  we  compare  this 
interval  of  time  with  the  blissful  eternity  which  is  to 


440  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

succeed  it ;  and  probably,  if  we  compare  it  with  those 
ages  which  have  already  passed  since  the  sun  began 
to  measure  out  to  earth  its  days  and  its  years.  And 
will  you  not  here  also  sing  your  part  in  the  joyful 
anthem,  "Amen;  even  so,  come,  Lord  Jesus?" 

1C.  It  is  true,  Christian,  it  is  an  awful  day ;  a  day 
in  which  nature  shall  be  thrown  into  a  confusion  as 
yet  unknown.  No  earthquake,  no  eruption  of  burn- 
ing mountains,  no  desolation  of  cities  by  devouring 
flames,  or  of  countries  by  overflowing  rivers  or  seas, 
can  give  any  just  emblem  of  that  dreadful  day,  when 
"  the  heavens,  being  on  fire,  shall  be  dissolved  ;  the 
earth  also,  and  all  that  is  therein,  shall  be  burnt  up," 
2  Peter,  3  : 10-12  ;  when  all  nature  shall  flee  away 
in  amazement  "  before  the  face  of  the  universal 
Judge,"  Rev.  20  :  11 ;  and  there  shall  be  a  great  cry, 
far  beyond  what  was  known  "  in  the  land  of  Egypt, 
when  there  was  not  a  house  in  which  there  was  not 
one  dead."  Exod.  12  :  30.  Your  flesh  may  be  ready 
to  tremble  at  the  view ;  yet  your  spirit  must  surely 
"rejoice  in  God  your  Saviour."  Luke  1  :47.  You 
may  justly  say,  "  Let  this  illustrious  day  come,  even 
with  all  its  horrors."  Yea,  like  the  Christians  de- 
scribed by  the  apostle,  2  Peter,  3  : 12,  you  may  be 
looking  for,  and  hastening  to  that  day  of  terrible 
brightness  and  universal  doom.  For  your  Lord  will 
then  come  to  vindicate  the  justice  of  those  proceed- 
ings which  have  been  in  many  instances  so  much 


DE\TH    WELCOMED.  441 

obscured,  and  because  they  have  been  obscured,  have 
been  also  blasphemed.  He  will  come  to  display  his 
magnificence,  descending  from  heaven  "  with  a  shout, 
with  the  voice  of  the  archangel,  and  the  trump  of 
God,"  1  Thess.  4:16,  taking  his  seat  upon  a  throne 
infinitely  exceeding  that  of  earthly,  or  even  of  celes- 
tial princes,  clothed  with  "  his  Father's  glory  and  his 
own,"  Luke  9  :  26,  surrounded  with  a  numberless 
host  of  shining  attendants,  "  when  coming  to  be  glo- 
rified in  his  saints,  and  admired  in  all  them  that  be- 
lieve." 2  Thess.  1:10.  His  enemies  shall  also  be 
produced  to  grace  his  triumph.  The  serpent  shall 
be  seen  there  rolling  in  the  dust,  and  trodden  under 
foot  by  him  and  by  all  his  servants  :  those  who  once 
condemned  him  shall  tremble  at  his  presence ;  and 
those  who  bowed  the  knee  before  him  in  profane 
mockery,  shall,  in  wild  despair,  "call  to  the  moun- 
tains to  fall  upon  them,  and  to  the  rocks  to  hide 
them  from  the  face  of  that  Lamb  of  God,"  Rev.  6:16, 
whom  they  once  led  away  to  the  most  inhuman 
slaughter. 

11.  0  Christian,  does  not  your  loyal  heart  bound 
at  the  thought  ?  And  are  you  not  ready,  even  while 
leading  these  lines,  to  begin  the  victorious  shout  in 
which  you  are  then  to  join  ?  He  justly  expects  that 
your  thoughts,  should  be  greatly  elevated  and  im- 
pressed with  the  views  of  his  triumph ;  but  at  the 
same  time  he  permits  you  to  remember  your  own 


442  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

personal  share  in  the  joy  and  glory  of  that  blessed 
day ,  and  even  now  he  has  the  view  before  him  of 
what  his  power  and  love  shall  then  accomplish  for 
your  salvation.  And  what  shall  it  not  accomplish  ? 
He  shall  come  to  break  the  bars  of  the  grave,  and  to 
reanimate  your  sleeping  clay.  Your  bodies  must 
indeed  be  laid  in  dust,  and  be  lodged  there  as  a  tes- 
timony of  God's  displeasure  against  sin — against  the 
first  sin  that  ever  was  committed ;  from  the  sad  con- 
sequences of  which  the  dearest  of  his  children  cannot 
be  exempted.  But  you  shall  then  have  an  ear  to 
hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  an  eye  to  be- 
hold the  lustre  of  his  appearance  ;  and  shall  "  shine 
forth  like  the  sun"  arising  in  the  clear  heaven, 
"which  is  as  a  bridegroom  coming  out  of  his  cham- 
'  ber."  Psalm  19:5.  Your  soul  shall  be  new  dressed 
to  grace  this  high  solemnity,  and  be  clothed,  not  with 
rags  of  mortality,  but  with  the  robes  of  glory ;  for  he 
"  shall  change  this  vile  body,  to  fashion  it  like  his 
own  glorious  body."  Phil.  3:21.  And  when  you 
are  thus  royally  arrayed,  he  shall  confer  public  hon- 
ors on  you,  and  on  all  his  people,  before  the  assem- 
bled world.  You  may  now  perhaps  be  loaded  with 
infamy,  called  by  reproachful  names,  and  charged 
with  crimes,  or  with  views  which  your  very  soul 
abhors  ;  but  he  will  "  then  bring  forth  your  right- 
eousness as  the  light,"  Psalm  37  :  6,  "  and  your  salva- 
tion as  a  lamp  that  burneth."  Isa.  62  :  1.  Though 


DEATH    WELCOMED.  443 

you  have  been  dishonored  by  men,  you  shall  be  ac- 
knowledged by  God ;  and  though  treated  "  as  the 
filth  of  the  world,  and  the  ofFscouring  of  all  things," 
I  Cor.  4  : 13,  he  will  show  that  he  regards  you  "as 
his  treasure,  in  the  day  that  he  makes  up  his  jewels." 
Mai.  3:17.  When  he  shall  "put  away  all  the 
wicked  of  the  earth  like  dross,"  Psalm  119  :  119,  you 
shall  be  pronounced  righteous  in  that  full  assembly  ; 
and  though  indeed  you  have  broken  the  divine  law, 
and  might  in  strict  justice  have  been  condemned,  yet 
being  clothed  with  the  righteousness  of  the  great 
Redeemer,  even  "  that  righteousness  which  is  of  tht> 
great  God  by  faith,"  Phil.  3:9,  justice  itself  shall 
acquit  you,  and  join  with  mercy  in  "  bestowing  upon 
you  a  crown  of  life."  2  Tim.  4:8.  Christ  will 
"confess  you  before  men  and  angels,"  Luke  12  :  8, 
will  pronounce  you  good  and  faithful  servants,  and 
call  you  to  "  enter  into  the  joy  of  your  Lord,"  Matt. 
25  :  21  i  he  will  speak  of  you  with  endearment  as 
his  brethren,  and  will  acknowledge  the  kindnesses 
which  have  been  shown  to  you,  as  if  he  had  "  re- 
ceived them  in  his  own  person."  Matt.  25 : 40.  Yea, 
then  shall  you,  0  Christians,  "who  may  perhaps 
have  sat  in  some  of  the  lowest  places  in.  our  as- 
semblies, to  whom,  it  may  be,  none  of  the  rich  and 
great  of  the  earth  would  condescend  to  speak — then 
shall  you  be  called  to  be  assessors  with  Christ  on 
his  judgment-seat,  and  to  join  with  him  in  the  sen- 


444  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 

tence  he  shall  pass  on  wicked  men  and  rebellious 
angels. 

12.  Nor  is  it  merely  one  day  of  glory  and  triumph. 
But  when  the  Judge  arises,  and  ascends  to  his  Fa- 
ther's court,  all  the  blessed  shall  ascend  with  him, 
and  you  among  the  rest ;  you  shall  ascend  together 
with  your  Saviour,  "to  his  Father  and  your  Father, 
to  his  God  and  your  God."  John  20  : 17.  You  shal] 
go  to  make  your  appearance  in  the  New  Jerusalem, 
in  those  new  shining  forms  that  you  have  received, 
which  will  no  doubt  be  attended  with  a  correspondent 
improvement  of  mind,  and  take  up  your  perpetual 
abode  in  that  fulness  of  joy  with  which  you  shall 
be  filled  and  satisfied  "in  the  presence  of  God,"  Psa. 
16  :  11,  upon  the  consummation  of  that  happiness 
which  the  saints  in  the  intermediate  state  have  been 
wishing  and  waiting  for.  You  shall  go  from  the 
ruins  of  a  dissolving  world,  to  "  the  new  heavens  and 
new  earth,  wherein  righteousness  for  ever  dwells." 
2  Pet.  3  : 13.  There  all  the  number  of  God's  elect 
shall  be  accomplished,  and  the  happiness  of  each  shall 
be  completed.  The  whole  society  shall  be  "  presented 
before  God,  as  the  bride,  the  Lamb's  wife,"  Rev.  21:9, 
whom  the  eye  of  its  celestial  Bridegroom  shall  survey 
with  unutterable  delight,  and  confess  to  be  "without 
spot  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing,"  Eph.  5  :  27  ;  its 
character  and  state  being  just  what  he  originally  de- 
signed it  to  be,  when  he  first  engaged  to  "give  him- 


DEATH  WELCOMED.  445 

self  for  it;  to  redeem  it  to  God  by  his  blood."  Rev. 
5:9.  "So  shall  you  ever  be"  with  each  other,  and 
"with  the  Lord,"  1  Thess.  4  :  17  ;  and  immortal  ages 
shall  roll  away,  and  find  you  still  unchanged — your 
happiness  always  the  same,  and  your  relish  for  it  the 
same,  or  rather  ever  growing,  as  your  souls  are  ap- 
proaching nearer  and  nearer  to  Him  who  is  the  source 
of  happiness,  and  the  centre  of  infinite  perfection. 

13.  And  now,  look  round  about  upon  earth,  and 
single  out,  if  you  can,  the  enjoyments  or  the  hopes, 
for  the  sake  of  which  you  would  say,  Lord,  delay 
thy  coming — or  for  the  sake  of  which  you  any  more 
should  hesitate  to  express  your  longing  for  it,  and  to 
cry,  "Even  so,  come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly." 

THE  MEDITATION  OR  PRAYER  OF  A  CHRISTIAN  WHOSE 
HEART  IS  WARMED  WITH  THESE  PROSPECTS. 

"  0  blessed  Lord,  my  soul  is  enkindled  with  these 
views,  and  rises  to  thee  in  a  flame.  Judg.  13  : 20. 
Thou  hast  testified  thou  comest  quickly ;  and  I  re- 
peat my  joyful  assent,  'Amen;  even  so,  come,  Lord 
Jesus.'  Rev.  22  :  20.  Come,  for  I  long  to  have 
done  with  this  low  life — to  have  done  with  its  bur- 
dens, its  sorrows,  and  its  snares.  Come,  for  I  long 
to  ascend  into  thy  presence,  and  to  see  the  court  thou 
art  holding  above. 

"  Blessed  Jesus,  death  is  transformed,  when  I  view 
it  in  this  light.  The  king  of  terrors  is  seen  no  more 


446  RISE   AND  PROGRESS. 

as  such,  so  near  the  King  of  glory  and  of  grace.  I 
hear  with  pleasure  the  sound  of  thy  feet  approaching 
still  nearer  and  nearer.  Draw  aside  the  veil  when- 
ever thou  pleasest.  Open  the  bars  of  my  prison,  that 
my  eager  soul  may  spring  forth  'to  thee,  and  cast 
itself  at  thy  feet ' — at  the  feet  of  that  Jesus,  '  whom, 
having  not  seen,  I  love,'  and  '  in  whom,  though  now 
I  see  thee  not,  yet  believing,  I  rejoice  with  joy  un- 
speakable and  full  of  glory.'  1  Pet.  1  :  8.  Thou, 
Lord,  'shalt  show  me  the  path  of  life;'  thine  hand 
shalt  guide  me  to  thy  blissful  abode,  where  'there 
is  fulness  of  joy,  and  rivers  of  everlasting  pleasure.* 
Psa.  16  : 11.  Thou  shalt  assign  me  a  habitation  with 
thy  faithful  servants,  whose  separate  spirits  are  now 
living  with  thee,  while  their  bodies  sleep  in  the  dust. 
Many  of  them  have  been  my  companions  in  thy  la- 
borious work,  and  in  the  'patience  and  tribulation  of 
thy  kingdom,'  Rev.  1:9,  my  dear  companions,  and 
my  brethren.  0  show  me,  blessed  Saviour,  how  glo- 
rious and  how  happy  thou  hast  made  them.  Show 
me  to  what  new  forms  of  better  life  thou  hast  con- 
ducted them  whom  we  call  the  dead ;  in  what  no- 
bler and  more  extensive  services  thou  hast  employed 
them ;  that  I  may  praise  thee  better  than  I  now 
can,  for  thy  goodness  to  them.  And  0,  give  me  to 
share  with  them  in  their  blessings  and  their  services, 
and  to  raise  a  song  of  grateful  love,  like  that  which 
they  are  breathing  forth  before  thee. 


DEATH   WELCOMED.  447 

"Yet,  0  my  blessed  Redeemer,  even  there  will  my 
soul  be  aspiring  to  yet  a  nobler  and  more  glorious 
hope ;  and  from  this  as  yet  unknown  splendor  and 
felicity  shall  I  be  drawing  new  arguments  to  look 
and  long  for  the  day  of  thy  final  appearance.  There 
shall  I  long  more  ardently  than  I  now  do,  to  see  thy 
conduct  vindicated,  and  thy  triumph  displayed ;  to 
see  the  dust  of  thy  servants  reanimated,  and  'death, 
the  last  of  their  enemies  and  of  thine,  swallowed  up 
in  victory.'  1  Cor.  15  :  26,  54.  I  shall  long  for  that 
superior  honor  that  thou  intendest  me,  and  that  com- 
plete bliss  to  which  the  whole  body  of  thy  people  shall 
be  conducted.  'Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly,' 
will  mingle  itself  with  the  songs  of  paradise,  and 
sound  from  the  tongues  of  all  the  millions  of  thy 
saints  whom  thy  grace  hath  transplanted  thither. 

"  In  the  meantime,  0  my  divine  Master,  accept 
the  homage  which  a  grateful  heart  now  pays  thee, 
in  a  sense  of  the  glorious  hopes  with  which  thou  hast 
inspired  it.  It  is  thou  that  hast  put  this  joy  into  it, 
and  hast  raised  my  soul  to  this  glorious  ambition ; 
whereas  I  might  otherwise  have  now  been  grovelling 
in  the  lowest  trifles  of  time  and  sense,  and  been  look- 
ing with  horror  on  that  hour  which  is  now  the  object 
of  my  most  ardent  wishes. 

"  0  be  with  me  always,  even  to  the  end  of  this 
mortal  life.  And  give  me,  while  waiting  for  thy  sal- 
vation, to  be  doing  thy  commandments.  May  '  my 


448  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

loins  be  girded  about,  and  my  lamp  burning,'  Luke 
12  :  35,  and  my  ears  be  still  watchful  for  the  blessed 
signal  of  thine  arrival;  that  my  glowing  soul  may 
with  pleasure  spring  to  meet  thee,  and  be  strength- 
ened by  death  to  bear  those  visions  of  glory,  under 
the  ecstasies  of  which  feeble  mortality  would  now 
expire." 


THE  DYING  CHRISTIAN.  440 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  HONORING  GOD  BY  HIS  DYING  BEHAVIOR. 

1.  Reflections  on  the  sincerity  with  which  the  preceding 
counsel  has  been  given. — 2,  3.  The  author  is  desirous  that,  if 
Providence  permit,  he  may  assist  the  Christian  to  die  honora- 
bly and  comfortably. — 4.  With  this  view,  it  is  advised,  To  rid 
the  mind  of  all  earthly  cares. — 5.  To  renew  the  humiliation 
of  the  soul  before  God,  and  its  application  to  the  blood  of 
Christ. — 6.  To  exercise  patience  under  bodily  pains  and  sor- 
rows.— 7.  At  leaving  the  world,  to  bear  an  honorable  testi- 
mony to  religion. — 8.  To  give  a  solemn  charge  to  surviving 
friends. — 9.  Especially  recommending  faith  in  Christ. — 10,  11. 
To  keep  the  promises  of  God  in  view. — 12.  And  to  commit 
the  departing  spirit  to  God,  in  the  genuine  exercises  of  grati- 
tude and  repentance,  faith  and  charity,  which  are  exemplified 
hi  the  concluding  meditation  and  prayer. 

1.  THUS,  my  dear  reader,  I  have  endeavored  to 
lead  you  through  a  variety  of  circumstances,  and 
those  not  fancied  or  imaginary,  but  such  as  do  in- 
deed occur  in  the  human  and  Christian  life.  And  I 
can  truly  and  cheerfully  say,  that  I  have  marked  out 
to  you  the  path  which  I  myself  have  trod,  an$  in 
which  it  is  my  desire  still  to  go  on.  I  have  ventured 
my  own  everlasting  interests  on  that  foundation  on 
which  I  have  directed  you  to  adventure  yours.  What 
I  have  recommended  as  the  grand  business  of  your 
life,  I  desire  to  make  the  business  of  my  own;  and 

RiM  tnd  Prof.  29 


450  RISE    AND   PROGRESS. 

the  most  considerable  enjoyments  which  I  expect  or 
desire  in  the  remaining  days  of  my  pilgrimage  on 
earth,  are  such  as  I  have  directed  you  to  seek,  and 
endeavored  to  assist  you  in  attaining.  Such  love  to 
God,  such  constant  activity  in  his  service,  such  pleas- 
urable views  of  what  lies  beyond  the  grave,  appear 
tome — God  is  my  witness — a  felicity  incomparably 
beyond  any  thing  else  which  can  offer  itself  to  our 
affection  and  pursuit ;  and  I  would  not  for  ten  thou- 
sand worlds  resign  my  share  in  them,  or  consent  even 
to  the  suspension  of  the  delights  which  they  afford, 
during  the  remainder  of  my  abode  here. 

2.  I  would  humbly  hope,  through  the  divine  bless- 
ing, that  the  hours  you  have  spent  in  the  review  of 
these  plain  things,  may  have  turned  to  some  profita- 
ble account;  and  that,  in  consequence  of  what  you 
have  read,  you  have  been  either  brought  into  the 
way  of  life  and  peace,  or  been  induced  to  quicken 
your  pace  in  it.  Most  heartily  should  I  rejoice  in 
being  further  useful  to  you,  and  that  even  to  the  last. 
Now  there  is  one  scene  remaining,  a  scene  through 
which  you  must  infallibly  pass,  which  has  something 
in  it  so  awful,  that  I  cannot  but  attempt  doing  a 
little  to  assist  you  in  it:  I  mean  the  dark  valley  of 
the  shadow  of  death.  I  could  earnestly  wish,  that 
for  the  credit  of  your  profession,  the  comfort  of  your 
own  soul,  and  the  joy  and  edification  of  your  sur- 
viving friends,  you  might  die  not  only  safely,  but 


THE   DYING   CHRISTIAN.  451 

honorably  too ;  and  therefore  I  would  offer  you  some 
parting  advice.  I  am  sensible,  indeed,  that  Provi- 
dence may  determine  the  circumstances  of  your  death 
in  such  a  manner,  as  that  you  may  have  no  oppor- 
tunity of  acting  upon  the  hints  I  now  give  you.  Some 
unexpected  accident  from  without,  or  from  within, 
may,  as  it  were,  whirl  you  to  heaven  before  you  are 
aware ;  and  you  may  find  yourself  so  suddenly  there, 
that  it  may  seem  a  translation  rather  than  a  death. 
Or  it  is  possible  the  force  of  a  distemper  may  affect 
your  understanding  in  such  a  manner,  that  you  may 
be  quite  insensible  of  the  circumstances  in  which 
you  are ;  and  so  your  dissolution,  though  others  may 
see  it  visibly  and  certainly  approaching,  may  be  as 
grea-t  a  surprise  to  you  as  if  you  had  died  in  full 
health. 

3.  But  as  it  is,  on  the  whole,  probable  you  may 
have  a  more  sensible  passage  out  of  time  into  eter- 
nity, and  as  much  may,  in  various  respects,  depend 
on  your  dying  behavior,  give  me  leave  to  propose 
some  plain  directions  with  relation  to  it,  to  be  prac- 
tised, if  God  give  you  opportunity,  and  remind  you  of 
them.  It  may  not  be  improper  to  look  over  the  twen- 
ty-ninth chapter  again,  when  you  find  the  symptoms  of 
any  threatening  disorder.  And  I  the  rather  hope  that 
what  I  say  may  be  useful  to  you,  as  methinks  I  find 
myself  disposed  to  address, you  with  something  of 
that  peculiar  tenderness  which  we  feel  for  a  dying 


452  RISE    AND  PROGRESS. 

friend ;  to  whom,  as  we  expect  that  we  shall  speak 
to  him  no  more,  we  send  out,  as  it  were,  all  our  hearts 
in  every  word. 

4.  I  would  advise,  then,  in  the  first  place,  "that, 
as  soon  as  possible,  you  would  endeavor  to  get  rid  of 
all  further  care  with  regard  to  your  temporal  con- 
cerns, by  settling  them  in  time,  in  as  reasonable  and 
Christian  a  manner  as  you  can."     I  could  wish  there 
may  be  nothing  of  that  kind  to  hurry  your  mind 
when  you  are  least  able  to  bear  it,  or  to  distress  or 
divide  those  who  come  after  you.     Do  that  which  in 
the  presence  of  God  you  judge  most  equitable,  and 
which  you  verily  believe  will  be  most  pleasing  to 
him.     Do  it  in  as  prudent  arid  effectual  a  manner  as 
you  can  ;  and  then  consider  the  world  as  a  place  you 
have  quite  done  with,  and  its  aflairs  as  nothing  fur- 
ther to  you,  more  than  to  one  actually  dead,  unless 
as  you  may  do  any  good  to  its  inhabitants  while  yet 
you  continue  among  them,  and  may,  by  any  circum- 
stance in  your  last  actions  or  words  in  life,  leave  a 
blessing  behind  you  to  those  who  have  been  your 
friends  and  fellow-travellers,  while  you  have  been 
despatching  that  journey  through  it  which  you  are 
now  finishing. 

5.  That  you  may  be  the  more  at  leisure,  and  the 
better  prepared  for  this,    "  enter  into  some  serious 
review  of  your  own  state,  and  endeavor  to  put  your 
soul  into  as  fit  a  posture  as  possible  for  your  solemn 


THE  DYING  CHRISTIAN.  453 

appearance  before  God."  For  a  solemn  thing  indeed 
it  is,  to  go  into  his  immediate  presence  ;  to  stand 
before  him,  not  as  a  supplicant  at  the  throne  of  his 
grace,  but  at  his  bar  as  a  separate  spirit,  whose  time 
of  probation  is  over,  and  whose  eternal  state  is  to  be 
immediately  determined.  Renew  your  humiliation 
before  God  for  the  imperfections  of  your  life,  though 
it  has,  in  the  main,  been  devoted  to  his  service.  Re- 
new your  application  to  the  mercies  of  God  as  prom- 
ised in  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  to  the  blood  of 
Christ  as  the  blessed  channel  in  which  they  flow. 
Resign  yourself  entirely  to  the  divine  disposal  and 
conduct,  as  willing  to  serve  God,  either  in  this  world 
or  the  other,  as  he  shall  see  fit.  And  sensible  of  your 
sinfulness  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the  divine  wisdom 
and  goodness  on  the  other,  summon  up  all  the  forti- 
tude of  your  soul  to  bear,  as  well  as  you  can,  what- 
ever his  afflicting  hand  may  further  lay  upon  you, 
and  to  receive  the  last  stroke  of  it  as  one  who  would 
maintain  the  most  entire  subjection  to  the  great  and 
good  Father  of  spirits. 

6.  "Whatever  you  suffer,  endeavor  to  show  "  your- 
self an  example  of  patience."  Let  that  amiable  grace 
"  have  its  perfect  work,"  James  1:4;  and  since  it 
has  so  little  more  to  do,  let  it  close  the  scene  nobly. 
Let  there  not  be  a  murmuring  word  ;  and  that  there 
may  not,  watch  against  every  repining  thought.  And 
when  you  feel  any  thing  of  that  kind  arising,  look  by 


454  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

faith  upon  a  dying  Saviour,  and  ask  your  own  heart, 
"  Was  not  his  cross  much  more  painful  than  the  bed 
on  which  I  lie  ?  Was  not  his  situation,  among  blood- 
thirsty enemies,  infinitely  more  terrible  than  mine 
amidst  the  tenderness  and  care  of  so  many  affection- 
ate friends  ?  Did  not  the  heavy  load  of  my  sins  press 
him  in  a  much  more  overwhelming  manner  than  I 
am  pressed  by  the  load  of  these  afflictions  ?  And 
yet  he  bore  all,  '  as  a  lamb  that  is  brought  to  the 
slaughter.'  "  Isaiah  53  :  7.  Let  the  remembrance 
of  his  sufferings  be  a  means  to  sweeten  yours ;  yea, 
let  it  cause  you  to  rejoice,  when  you  are  called  to 
bear  the  cross  for  a  little  while,  before  you  wear  the 
crown.  Count  it  all  joy,  that  you  have  an  opportu- 
nity yet  once  more  of  honoring  God  by  your  patience, 
which  is  now  acting  its  last  part,  and  will,  in  a  few 
days,  and  perhaps  in  a  few  hours,  be  superseded  by 
complete,  everlasting  blessedness.  And  I  am  willing 
to  hope,  that  in  these  views  you  will  not  only  sup- 
press all  passionate  complaints,  but  that  your  mouth 
will  be  filled  with  the  praises  of  God  ;  and  that  you 
will  be  speaking  to  those  who  are  about  you,  not 
only  of  his  justice,  but  of  his  goodness  too.  So  that 
you  will  be  enabled  to  communicate  your  inward 
joys  in  such  a  manner  as  may  be  a  lively  and  edify- 
ing comment  upon  those  words  of  the  apostle,  "  Trib- 
ulation worketh  patience,  and  patience  experience, 
and  experience  hope,  even  a  hope  which  maketh 


THE    DYING   CHRISTIAN.  455 

not  ashamed ;  while  the  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad 
in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  is  given  unto 
us."  Rom.  5:3-5 

7.  And  now,  my  dear  friend,  "  now  is  the  time, 
when  it  is  especially  expected  from  you,  that  you 
bear  an  honorable  testimony  to  religion."  Tell  those 
that  are  about  you,  as  well  as  you  can — for  you  will 
never  be  able  fully  to  express  it — what  comfort  and 
support  you  have  found  in  it.  Tell  them  how  it  has 
brightened  the  darkest  circumstances  of  your  life ; 
tell  them  how  it  now  reconciles  you  to  the  near  views 
of  death.  Your  words  will  carry  with  them  a  pecu- 
liar weight  at  such  a  season :  there  will  be  a  kind 
of  eloquence,  even  in  the  infirmities  with  which  you 
are  struggling,  while  you  give  them  utterance  ;  and 
you  will  be  heard  with  attention,  with  tenderness, 
with  credit.  And  therefore,  when  the  time  of  your 
departure  is  at  hand,  with  unaffected  freedom  breathe 
out  your  joy,  if  you  then  feel,  as  I  hope  you  will,  a 
holy  joy  and  delight  in  God.  Breathe  out,  however, 
your  inward  peace  and  serenity  of  mind,  if  you  be 
then  peaceful  and  serene :  others  will  mark  it,  and 
be  encouraged  to  tread  the  steps  which  lead  to  so 
happy  an  end.  Tell  them  what  you  feel  of  the  van- 
ity of  the  world,  and  they  may  learn  to  regard  it  less. 
Tell  them  what  you  feel  of  the  substantial  supports 
of  the  Gospel,  and  they  may  learn  to  value  it  more ; 
for  they  cannot  but  know  that  they  must  lie  down 


156  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 

on  a  dying  bed  too,  and  must  then  need  all  the  relief 
which  the  Gospel  itself  can  give  them. 

8.  And  to  enforce  the  conviction  the  more,  "  give 
a  solemn  charge  to  those  that  are  about  you,  that 
they  spend  their  lives  in  the  service  of  God,  and 
govern  themselves  by  the  principles  of  real  relig- 
ion."    You  may  remember  that  Joshua  and  David 
and  other  good  men  did  so,  when  they  perceived  that 
the  days  drew  near  in  which  they  should  die.     And 
you  know  not  how  the  admonitions  of  a  dying  friend, 
or,  as  it  may  be  with  respect  to  some,  of  a  dying  par- 
ent, may  impress  those  who  may  have  disregarded 
what  you  and  others  may  have  said  to  them  before. 
At  least,  make  the  trial,  and  die  laboring  to  glorify 
God,  to  save  souls,  and  generously  to  sow  the  seeds 
of  goodness  and  happiness  in  a  world  where  you  have 
no  more  harvests  to  reap.     Perhaps  they  may  spring 
up  in  a  plentiful  crop,  when  the  clods  of  the  valley 
are  covering  your  body  :  but  if  not,  God  will  approve 
it ;  and  the  angels  that  wait  around  your  bed  to 
receive  your  departing  soul,  will  look  upon  each  other 
with  marks  of  approbation  in  their  countenance,  and 
own  that  this  is  to  expire  like  a  Christian,  and  to 
make  a  glorious  improvement  of  mortality. 

9.  And  in  this  last  address  to  your  fellow-mortals, 
whoever  they  are  that  Providence  brings  near  you, 
"  be  sure  that  you  tell  them  how  entirely  and  how 
cheerfully  your  hopes  and  dependence,  in  this  season 


THE  DYING  CHRISTIAN.  457 

of  the  last  extremity,  are  fixed,  not  upon  your  own 
merits  and  obedience,  but  on  what  the  great  Re- 
deemer has  done  and  has  suffered  for  sinners."  Let 
them  see  that  you  die,  as  it  were,  at  the  foot  of  the 
cross  :  nothing  will  be  so  comfortable  to  yourself, 
nothing  so  edifying  to  them.  Let  the  name  of  Jesus, 
therefore,  be  in  your  mouth  while  you  are  able  to 
speak ;  and  when  you  can  speak  no  longer,  let  it  be 
in  your  heart ;  and  endeavor  that  the  last  act  of  your 
soul,  while  it  continues  in  the  body,  may  be  an  act 
of  humble  faith  in  Christ.  Come  unto  God  by  him ; 
enter  into  that  which  is  within  the  veil,  as  with  the 
blood  of  sprinkling  fresh  upon  you.  It  is  an  awful 
thing  for  such  a  sinner,  as  you,  my  Christian  friend, 
with  all  the  virtues  the  world  may  have  admired, 
know  yourself  to  be,  to  stand  before  that  infinitely 
pure  and  holy  Being  who  has  seen  all  your  ways  and 
all  your  heart,  and  has  a  perfect  knowledge  of  every 
mixture  of  imperfection  which  has  attended  the  best 
of  your  duties :  but  venture  in  that  way,  and  you 
will  find  it  both  safe  and  pleasant. 

10.  Once  more,  "  to  give  you  comfort  in  a  dying 
hour,  and  to  support  your  feeble  steps  while  you  are 
travelling  through  this  dark  and  painful  way,  take 
the  word  of  God  as  a  staff  in  your  hand."  Let 
books,  and  mortal  friends,  now  do  their  last  office  for 
you.  Call,  if  you  can,  some  experienced  Christian, 
who  has  felt  the  power  of  the  word  of  God  upon  his 


458  RISE  AND  PROGRESS. 

own  heart ;  and  let  him  bring  the  Scripture,  and 
turn  you  to  some  of  those  precious  promises  which 
have  been  the  food  and  rejoicing  of  his  own  soul.  It 
is  with  this  view,  that  I  may  carry  the  good  office  I 
am  now  engaged  in  as  far  as  possible,  that  I  shall 
here  give  you  a  collection  of  a  few  such  admirable 
scriptures,  each  of  them  "  infinitely  more  valuable 
than  thousands  of  gold  and  silver."  Psalm  119  :  72. 
And  to  convince  you  of  the  degree  in  which  I  esteem 
them,  I  will  take  the  freedom  to  add,  that  I  desire 
they  may,  if  God  give  an  opportunity,  be  read  over 
to  me  as  I  lie  on  my  dying  bed,  with  short  intervals 
between  them,  that  I  may  pause  upon  each,  and 
renew  something  of  that  delightful  relish  which,  I 
bless  God,  I  have  often  found  in  them.  May  your 
soul  and  mine  be  then  composed  to  a  sacred  silence, 
whatever  be  the  commotion  of  animal  nature,  while 
the  voice  of  God  speaks  to  us  in  the  language  which 
he  spoke  to  his  servants  of  old,  or  in  which  he  in- 
structed them  how  they  should  speak  to  him  in  cir- 
cumstances of  the  greatest  extremity. 

11.  Can  any  more  encouragement  be  wanting, 
when  he  says,  "  Fear  not,  for  I  am  with  thee ;  be 
not  dismayed,  for  I  am  thy  God  :  I  will  strengthen 
thee  ;  yea,  I  will  help  thee  ;  yea,  I  will  uphold  thee 
with  the  right  hand  of  my  righteousness."  Isaiah 
41  :  10.  And  "  He  is  not  man,  that  he  should  lie  ;  or 
the  son  of  man,  that  he  should  repent.  Hath  he  said. 


THE   DYING  CHRISTIAN.  459 

and  shall  he  not  do  it  ?  Or  hath  he  spoken,  and 
shall  he  not  make  it  good  ?"  Numb.  23  :  19.  "  The 
Lord  is  my  light  and  my  salvation ;  whom  shall  I 
fear  ?  The  Lord  is  the  strength  of  my  life  ;  of  whom 
shall  I  be  afraid?"  Psalm  27:1.  "  This  God  is 
our  God  for  ever  and  ever  :  he  will  be  our  guide  even 
unto  death."  Psalm  48  :  14.  Therefore,  ''though 
I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  1 
will  fear  no  evil ;  for  thou  art  with  me,  thy  rod  and 
thy  staff  they  comfort  me."  Psalm  23  :  4.  "I  have 
waited  for  thy  salvation,  0  Lord."  Gen.  49  :  18. 
"  0  continue  thy  loving-kindness  unto  them  that 
know  thee,  and  thy  righteousness  to  the  upright  in 
heart.  For  with  thee  is  the  fountain  of  life  ;  in  thy 
light  shall  we  see  light."  Psalm  36  :  9,  10.  "Thou 
wilt  show  me  the  path  of  life  :  in  thy  presence  is  ful- 
ness of  joy  ;  at  thy  right  hand  there  are  pleasures  for 
evermore."  Psalm  16:11.  "As  for  me,  I  shall 
behold  thy  face  in  righteousness  :  I  shall-  be  satisfied, 
when  I  awake,  with  thy  likeness.  Psalm  17  :  15. 
"  For  I  know  in  whom  I  have  believed,  and  am  per- 
suaded that  he  is  able  to  keep  what  I  have  committed 
to  him  until  that  day."  2  Tim.  1  : 12.  "  Therefore 
my  heart  is  glad,  and  my  glory  rejoiceth ;  my  flesh 
also  shall  rest  in  hope."  Psalm  16  :  9.  "For  if 
we  believe  that  Jesus  died,  and  rose  again,  those 
also  that  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God  bring  with  him." 
I  Thess.  4:14.  "I  give  unto  my  sheep  eternal 


460  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

life,"  said  Jesus,  the  good  Shepherd  ;  "  and  they  shall 
never  perish,  neither  shall  any  pluck  them  out  of  my 
hand."  John  10  :.28.  "  This  is  the  will  of  him  that 
sent  me,  that  every  one  that  believeth  on  me  should 
have  everlasting  life  ;  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the 
last  day."  John  6  :  40.  "  Let  not  your  heart  be 
troubled  ;  ye  believe  in  God,  believe  also  in  me.  In 
my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions  ;  if  it  were 
not  so,  I  would  have  told  you.  I  go  to  prepare  a 
place  for  you.  And  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for 
you,  I  will  come  again  and  receive  you  unto  myself; 
that  where  I  am,  there  ye  may  be  also."  John 
14  : 1—3.  "  Go  tell  my  brethren,  I  ascend  unto  my 
Father  and  your  Father,  and  to  my  God  and  your 
God."  John  20  :  17.  "  Father,  I  will  that  they 
whom  thou  hast  given  me  be  with  me  where  I  am, 
that  they  may  behold  my  glory  which  thou  hast 
given  me ;  that  the  love  wherewith  thou  hast  loved 
me,  may  be  -in  them,  and  I  in  them."  John  17  :  24, 
26.  "  He  that  testifieth  these  things  saith,  Surely 
I  come  quickly.  Amen:  even  so,  come,  Lord  Jesus." 
Rev.  22  :  20.  "  0  death,  where  is  thy  sting?  0 
grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?  Thanks  be  to  God, 
who  giveth  us  the  victory,  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  1  Cor.  15:55,  57. 

12.  Thus  may  that  God  who  "knows  the  souls 
of  his  children  in  all  their  adversities,"  Psalm  31:7, 
and  in  "  whose  sight  the  death  of  his  saints  is  pre- 


THE    DYING   CHRISTIAN.  461 

cious,*'  Psalm  116  :  15,  cheer  and  support  you  and 
me  in  those  last  extremities  of  nature.  May  he  add 
us  to  the  happy  number  of  those  who  have  been 
more  than  conquerors  in  death.  And  may  he  give 
us  those  supplies  of  his  Spirit  which  may  enable  us 
to  pour  out  our  departing  souls  in  such  sentiments 
as  those  I  would  now  suggest,  though  we  should  be 
no  longer  able  to  utter  words,  or  to  understand  them 
if  they  were  read  to  us.  Let  us,  at  least,  review 
them  with  all  proper  affections  now,  and  lay  up  one 
prayer  more  for  that  awful  moment.  0  that  this, 
and  all  we  have  ever  offered  with  regard  to  it,  may 
then  "  come  to  remembrance  before  God."  Acts 
10  :4,  31. 

A  MEDITATION,  OR  PRAYER,   SUITED  TO  THE  CASE  OF 
A  DYING  CHRISTIAN. 

"  0  thou  supreme  Ruler  of  the  visible  and  invisi- 
ble worlds,  thou  Sovereign  of  life  and  of  death,  of 
earth  and  of  heaven,  blessed  be  thy  name,  I  have 
often  been  taught  to  seek  thee.  And  now  once  more 
do  I  pour  out  my  soul,  my  departing  soul  unto  thee. 
'  Bow  down  thy  gracious  ear,  0  God,  and  let  my  cry 
come  before  thee  with  acceptance.' 

"  The  hour  is  come,  when  thou  wilt  separate  me 
from  this  world,  with  which  I  have  been  so  long 
and  so  familiarly  acquainted,  and  lead  me  to  another, 
as  yet  unknown.  Enable  me,  I  beseech  thee,  to 


462  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

make  the  exchange  as  becomes  a  child  of  Abraham, 
who  being  '  called  of  thee  to  receive  an  inheritance, 
obeyed  and  went  out/  though  he  knew  not  particu- 
larly whither  he  went,  Heb.  11:8;  as  becomes  a 
child  of  God,  who  knows  that,  through  sovereign 
grace,  '  it  is  his  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  him 
the  kingdom.'  Luke  12  :  32. 

"  I  acknowledge,  0  Lord,  the  justice  of  that  sen- 
tence by  which  I  am  expiring,  and  own  thy  wisdom 
and  goodness  in  appointing  my  journey  through  this 
gloomy  vale  which  is  now  before  me.  Help  me  to 
turn  it  into  the  happy  occasion  of  honoring  thee,  and 
adorning  my  profession,  and  I  will  bless  the  pangs 
by  which  thou  art  glorified,  and  this  mortal  and  sin- 
ful part  of  my  nature  dissolved. 

"  Gracious  Father,  I  would  not  quit  this  earth  of 
thine,  and  this  house  of  clay,  in  which  I  have  so- 
journed during  my  abode  upon  the  face  of  it,  without 
my  grateful  acknowledgments  to  thee  for  all  that 
abundant  goodness  which  thou  hast  caused  to  pass 
before  me  here,  Exodus  33  :  19  :  with  my  dying 
breath  I  bear  witness  to  thy  faithful  care ;  I  have 
4  wanted  no  good  thing.'  Psalm  34  :  10.  I  thank 
thee,  0  my  God,  that  this  guilty,  forfeited,  unprofit- 
able life,  was  so  long  spared  ;  that  it  hath  still  been 
maintained  by  such  a  rich  variety  of  thy  bounty.  I 
thank  thee,  that  thou  hast  made  this  beginning  of 
my  existence  so  pleasant  to  me.  I  thank  thee  for 


THE  DYING  CHRISTIAN.  4{33 

the  mercies  of  my  days  and  nights,  of  my  months 
and  years,  which  are  now  come  to  their  period  ;  T 
thank  thee  for  the  mercies  of  my  infancy,  and  foi 
those  of  my  riper  age;  for  all  the  agreeable  friends 
which  thou  hast  given  me  in  this  house  of  my  pil- 
grimage, *  the  living  and  the  dead  ;'  for  all  the  help 
I  have  received  from  others,  and  for  all  opportunities 
which  thou  hast  given  me  of  being  helpful  to  the 
bodies  and  souls  of  my  brethren  of  mankind.  '  Surely 
goodness  and  mercy  have  followed  me  all  the  days 
of  my  life,'  Psalm  23  :  6,  and  I  have  reason  to  rise  a 
thankful  guest  from  the  various  and  pleasant  enter- 
tainments with  which  my  table  has  been  furnished 
by  thee.  Nor  shall  I  have  reason  to  repine,  or  to 
grieve  at  quitting  them ;  for  0,  my  God,  are  thy 
bounties  exhausted  ?  I  know  that  they  are  not  I 
will  not  wrong  thy  goodness  and  thy  faithfulness, 
so  much  as  to  imagine,  that  because  I  am  going 
from  this  earth,  I  am  going  from  happiness.  I  adore 
thy  mercy,  that  thou  hast  taught  me  to  entertain 
nobler  views  through  Jesus  thy  Son.  I  bless  thee 
with  all  the  powers  of  my  nature,  that  I  ever  heard 
his  name,  and  heard  of  his  death ;  and  would  fain 
exert  a  more  vigorous  act  of  thankful  adoration  than 
in  this  broken  state  I  am  capable  of,  while  I  am  ex- 
tolling thee  for  the  riches  of  thy  grace  manifested  in 
him.  for  his  instructions  and  his  example,  for  his 
blood  and  his  righteousness,  and  for  that  blessed 


464  RISE   AND    PROGRESS. 

Spirit  of  thine  which  thou  hast  given  me,  to  turn 
my  sinful  heart  unto  thyself,  and  to  bring  me  *  into 
the  bonds  of  thy  covenant,'  of  that  covenant  which 
'  is  ordered  in  all  things  and  sure,'  2  Sam.  23  :  5, 
and  which  this  death,  though  now  separating  my 
soul  from  my  body,  shall  never  be  able  to  dissolve. 

"  I  bless  thee,  0  Lord,  that  I  am  not  dying  in  an 
unregenerate  and  impenitent  state  ;  but  that  thou 
didst  graciously  awaken  and  convince  me,  that  thou 
didst  renew  and  sanctify  my  heart,  and  didst,  by  thy 
good  Spirit,  work  in  it  an  unfeigned  faith,  a  real  re- 
pentance, and  the  beginning  of  a  divine  life.  I  thank 
thee  for  faithful  ministers  and  for  gospel  ordinances  ; 

1  thank  thee  for  my  Sabbaths  and  seasons  of  com- 
munion at  the  table  of  my  Lord  ;  and  for  the  weekly 
and  monthly  refreshments  which  they  gave  me.     1 

jthank  thee  for  the  fruits  of  Canaan  which  were  sent 
me  in  the  wilderness,  and  are  now  sent  me  on  the 
brink  of  Jordan.  I  thank  thee  for  thy  blessed  word, 
and  for  those  exceeding  rich  and  precious  promises 
of  it,  which  now  lie  as  a  cordial  warm  at  my  heart 
in  this  chilling  hour ;  promises  of  support  in  death, 
and  of  glory  beyond  it,  and  of  the  resurrection  of  my 
body  to  everlasting  life.  0  my  God,  I  firmly  believe 
them  all,  great  and  wonderful  as  they  are,  and  am 
waiting  for  the  accomplishment  of  them  through 
Jesus  Christ ;  '  in  whom  they  are  all  Yea  and  Amen.' 

2  Corinthians,  1 : 20.    '  Remember  thy  word  unto  thy 


THE  DVING  CHRISTIAN.  465 

servant,  on  which  thou  hast  caused  me  to  hope." 
Psalm  119:  49.  I  covenanted  with  thee,  not  for 
worldly  enjoyments,  which  thy  love  taught  me  com- 
paratively to  despise,  but  for  eternal  life,  as  'the 
gift  of  thy  free  grace  through  Jesus  Christ  my  Lord/ 
Rom.  6  :  23  ;  and  now  permit  me,  in  his  name,  to 
enter  my  humble  claim  to  it.  Permit  me  to  consign 
'  this  departing  spirit  to  thine  hand ;  for  thou  hast 
redeemed  it,  0  Lord  God  of  truth.'  Psalm  31:5. 
*  I  am  thine  ;  save  me,'  and  make  me  happy.  Psalm 
119  :94. 

"  But  may  I  indeed  presume  to  say  I  am  thine  ? 
0  God,  now  I  am  standing  on  the  borders  of  both 
worlds,  now  I  view  things  as  in  the  light  of  thy 
presence  and  of  eternity,  how  unworthy  do  I  appear 
that  I  should  be  taken  to  dwell  with  thy  angels  and 
saints  in  glory.  Alas,  I  have  reason  to  look  back 
with  deep  humiliation  on  a  poor,  unprofitable,  sinful 
life,  in  which  I  have  daily  been  deserving  to  be  cast 
into  hell.  But  I  have  this  one  comfortable  reflec- 
tion, that  I  have  fled  to  the  cross  of  Christ ;  and  1 
now  renew  my  application  to  it.  To  think  of  ap- 
pearing before  God  in  such  an  imperfect  righteous- 
ness as  my  own,  were  ten  thousand  times  worse  than 
death.  No,  Lord,  I  come  unto  thee  as  a  sinner ;  but 
as  a  sinner  who  has  believed  in.  thy  Son  for  pardon 
and  life  :  I  fall  down  before  thee  as  a  guilty,  polluted 
wretch ;  but  thou  hast  made  him  to  be  unto  thy 

Ris«  and  Prof.  30 


1(36  RISE    AND    PROGRESS. 

people  for  '  wisdom  and  righteousness,  for  sangtifica- 
tion  and  redemption.'  1  Cor.  1  : 30.  Let  me  have 
my  lot  among  the  followers  of  Jesus.  Treat  me  as 
thou  treatest  those  who  are  his  friends  and  his  breth- 
ren. For  thou  knowest  my  soul  has  loved  him  and 
trusted  in  him,  and  solemnly  ventured  itself  on  the 
security  of  his  gospel.  And  '  I  know  in  whom  I 
have  believed.'  2  Tim.  1:12.  The  infernal  lion 
may  attempt  to  dismay  me  in  the  awful  passage ; 
but  I  rejoice  that  I  am  '  in  the  hands  of  the  good 
Shepherd,'  John  10  :  11,  28,  and  I  defy  all  my  spir- 
itual enemies,  in  a  cheerful  dependence  on  his  faith- 
ful care.  I  lift  up  my  eyes  and  my  heart  to  him, 
who  '  was  dead,  and  is  alive  again ;  and  behold,  he 
liveth  for  evermore,  and  hath  the  keys  of  death  and 
of  the  unseen  world.'  Rev.  1  :  18.  Blessed  Jesus, 
I  die  by  thine  hand,  and  I  fear  no  harm  from  the 
hand  of  a  Saviour.  I  fear  not  that  death  which  is 
allotted  to  me  by  the  hand  of  my  dearest  Lord,  who 
himself  died  to  make  it  safe  and  happy.  I  come, 
Lord,  I  come  not  only  with  a  willing,  but  with  a 
joyful  consent.  I  thank  thee,  that  thou  rememberest 
me  for  good  ;  that  thou  art  breaking  my  "chains,  and 
calling  me  to  '  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of 
God.'  Rom.  8  :  21.  I  thank  thee,  that  thou  wilt 
no  longer  permit  me  to  live  at  a  distance  from  thine 
arms ;  but  after  this  long  absence,  wilt  have  me  at 
home,  at  home  for  ever. 


THE  DYING  CHRISTIAN.  467 

"  My  feeble  nature  faints  in  the  view  of  that  glory 
which  is  now  dawning  upon  me  ;  but  thou  knowest, 
gracious  Lord,  how  to  let  it  in  upon  my  soul  by  just 
degrees,  and  to  '  make  thy  strength  perfect  in  my 
weakness.'  2  Cor.  12:9.  Once  more,  for  the  last 
time,  would  I  look  down  on  this  poor  world  which  I 
arn  going  to  quit,  and  breathe  out  my  dying  prayer 
for  its  prosperity,  and  that  of  thy  church  in  it.  I 
have  loved  it,  0  Lord,  as  a  living  member  of  the 
body  ;  and  I  love  it  to  the  last.  I  humbly  beseech 
thee,  therefore,  that  thou  wilt  guard  it,  and  purify 
it,  and  unite  it  more  and  more.  Send  down  more  of 
thy  blessed  Spirit  upon  it,  even  the  Spirit  of  wisdom, 
of  holiness,  and  of  love  ;  till  in  due  time  '  the  wilder- 
ness be  turned  into  the  garden  of  the  Lord/  Isaiah 
51:3,  and  '  all  flesh  shall  see  thy  salvation.'  Luke 
3:6. 

"  As  for  me,  bear  me,  0  my  heavenly  Father,  on 
the  wings  of  everlasting  love,  to  that  peaceful,  that 
holy,  that  joyous  abode,  which  thy  mercy  has  pre- 
pared for  me,  and  which  the  blood  of  my  Redeemer 
has  purchased.  Bear  me  '  to  the  general  assembly 
and  church  of  the  first-born,  to  the  innumerable 
company  of  angels,  and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men 
made  perfect.'  Heb.  12  :  22,  23.  And  whatever 
this  flesh  may  suffer,  let  my  steady  soul  be  delight- 
fully fixed  on  that  glory  to  which  it  is  rising.  Let 
faith  perform  its  last  office  in  an  honorable  manner. 


468  RISE    AND   PROGRESS. 

Let  my  few  remaining  moments  on  earth  be  spent 
for  thy  glory,  and  so  let  me  ascend,  with  love  in  my 
heart,  and  praise  on  my  faltering  tongue,  to  the 
world  where  love  and  praise  shall  be  complete.  Be 
this  my  last  song  on  earth,  which  I  am  going  to  tune 
in  heaven :  *  Blessing,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and 
power,  be  unto  Him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and 
to  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever.*  Amen." 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  THE  AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY. 


D'Aubigne's  History  of 

Memoir  of  Dr.  Payson.  j-Dibble's    Thoughts    on 

the    Reformation,    a 

Memoir  of  Mrs.  H.  L. 

Missions. 

new   translation,  re- 

Winslow. 

Morison's    Counsels    to 

vised  by  the  Author, 

Memoir  of  J.B.Taylor. 

Young  Men. 

4  vols.,  each  450  pp., 

Memoir  of  Rev.  Dr.  Bu- 

Songs of  Zion. 

cloth  extra,  $1  75. 

chanan. 

James'  Anx.  Inquirer. 

Family  Testament5with 

Elegant  Narratives,  se- 

Mason's      Self-  Know- 

Notes. 

lect  Tracts  illustrated. 

ledge. 

Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Pro- 

Guide to  Y'ng  Disciples. 

Sherman's  Guide  to  Ac- 

gress, large  type. 

Bunyan's  Pil.  Progress. 

quaintance  with  God. 

Baxters    Saints'   Rest, 

Elijah  the  Tishbite. 

Divine  Law  of  Benefi- 

large type. 
Baxter  s    Treatise     on 

Volume  on  Infidelity. 
Doddridge's    Rise    and 

cence. 
Zaccheus,  or  Scriptural 

Conversion. 

Progress. 

Plan  of  Benevolence. 

Life  of  Jas.  Milnor,  D.D. 

Life  of  Martyn.    . 

James'  Young  Man  from 

Flavel's  Fount,  of  Life. 

Edwards'  History  of  Re- 

Home. 

Flavel'sMeth.of  Grace. 

demption. 

Henry  on  Meekness. 

Flavel's    Knocking    at 

Pike's     Persuasives    to 

Baxter's  Call  to  the  Un- 

the Door. 

Early  Piety. 

converted. 

Mason's  Spir.  Treasury. 
Hall's  Scrip.  History. 

Practical  Piety,  by  Han- 
nah More. 

Do.  Dying  Thoughts. 
Do.    Life,    chiefly    by 

Riches  of  Bunyan. 

Anecdotes  for  the  Fam- 

himself. 

Gregory's  Letters  on  In- 

ily Circle. 

Considerations  for  Y'ng 

fidelity. 

Spirit  of  Popery. 

Men. 

Hopkins  on  Ten  Com- 

Wilberforce's Practical 

Alleine's  Alarm. 

mandments. 

View. 

Keith's    Evidences    of 

Memoir  of  Mrs.  Graham. 

Life  of  David  Brainerd. 

Prophecy. 

Venn's  Complete  Duty 
of  Man. 

Melvill's  Bib.Thoughts. 
Mammon,  or  Covetous- 

Who  are  the  Happy? 
Fuller's  Backslider. 

Alleine's  Heav.  Opened. 

ness  the    Sin  of   the 

Flavel  on  Keeping  the 

Owen  on  Forgiveness  of 

Church.    By  Harris. 

Heart. 

Sin,  Psalm  130. 

Life  of  Samuel  Pearce. 

Flavel's  Touchstone. 

Memoir  of  Mrs.  Sarah 

Edwards  on  Affections. 

Letters  on  Universalism. 

L.  H.  Smith. 

Life  of  John  Newton. 

Self-Deception. 

Nelson  on  Infidelity. 

Memoir  of  H.  Page. 

The  Bible  True. 

Dr.  Spring's  Bible  Not 
of  Man. 

Nevins'  Prac.  Thoughts. 
Abbott's  Moth.  at  Home. 

Scudder's     Appeal     to 
Mothers. 

Afflicted    Man's    Com- 

Abbott's Child  at  Home. 

Social    Hymns,    (large 

panion,  by  Willison. 

Youth's  Book  of  Natural 

32mo.) 

Baxter's  Ref'd  Pastor. 

Theology. 

Hymns  to  Sacred  Songs, 

Memoir  of  Summerfield.  '  Religion  and  Eter.  Life. 

(large  32mo.) 

BOOKS  FOR  THE  YOUNG. 

Peep  of  Day. 

Charlotte  Elizabeth. 

Pictorial  Tract  Primer. 

Line  upon  Line. 

Mem'r  of  Car.  E  .  Smelt. 

Great  Truths. 

Precept  upon  Precept. 

John  D.  Lockwood. 

Jessie  Little. 

Memoir   of    Anzonetta 

Martha  T.  Sharp. 

Isabel. 

R.  Peters. 

Gallaudet's  Child's  B'k 

Walker's     Faith    Ex 

The  Night  of  Toil. 
Advice  to  a  Y.  Christian. 

on  the  Soul. 
Tales  ab't  the  Heathen. 

plained. 
Walker's     Repentance 

Hannah  More's  Reposi- 

The Dairyman's  Daugh- 

Explained. 

tory  Tracts. 

ter,  etc.                          j  Margaret  and  Henrietta. 

Mary  Lundie  Duncan. 

The  Withered  Branch  Bartimeus. 

Fletcher's    Lectures   to 

Revived. 

With  n  umerous  similar 

Children. 

Scripture  Lessons. 

works. 

ALSO,  upwards  of  1.000  Tracts  and  Children's  Tracts,  separate,  bound, 
or  in  packets,  adapted  for  convenient  sale  by  merchants  and  traders,  many 
of  them  with  beautiful  engravings — in  English,  German,  French,  Span- 
ish, Portuguese,  Italian,  Dutch,  Danish.  Swediih,  and  Welsh. 


SKETCH  OF  THE   AUTHOR'S   LIFE.  469 

DR.  DODDRIDGE  was  born  in  London,  June  26,  1702.  He 
was  of  a  consumptive  habit  from  infancy,  was  brought  up  in 
the.  early  knowledge  of  religion,  and  was  left  an  orphan  before 
he  arrived  at  the  age  of  fourteen.  At  sixteen  he  made  a  pro- 
fession of  religion ;  at  twenty  commenced  preaching  the  gos- 
pel ;  and  at  twenty-one  was  settled  over  a  small  congregation, 
in  an  obscure  village,  where  he  devoted  himself  to  the  acquisi- 
tion of  useful  knowledge  with  indefatigable  zeal.  At  twenty- 
seven  he  was  removed  to  the  pastoral  care  of  the  church  in 
Northampton,  where  for  twenty-two  years,  amidst  other  diver- 
sified labors,  he  acted  as  an  instructor  of  youth  preparing  for 
the  ministry,  having  had  under  his  charge,  during  that  period, 
upwards  of  two  hundred  young  men.  At  the  age  of  thirty- 
seven  and  thirty-eight  he  published  two  volumes  of  his  Family 
Expositor ;  and  about  the  age  of  forty-three  wrote  "  The  Rise 
and  Progress  of  Religion  in  the  Soul"  At  forty-six  he  pub- 
lished the  third  volume  of  the  Family  Expositor,  and  two  Dis- 
sertations :  1.  On  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  System  of  the  Harmony, 
2.  On  the  Inspiration  of  the  New  Testament.  In  December, 
1750,  in  the  forty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  he  went  to  St.  Albans 
and  preached  the  funeral  sermon  of  his  early  patron  and  bene- 
factor Dr.  Clark,  in  which  journey  he  contracted  a  cold  that 
laid  the  foundation  for  his  death.  In  July,  1751,  he  addressed 
his  flock  for  the  last  time  from  the  pulpit ;  and  having  found 
all  medical  aid  ineffectual,  embarked,  in  October,  for  Lisbon, 
as  the  last  resort  in  so  threatening  a  disorder,  at  which  place 
he  died  on  the  26th  of  October,  aged  forty-nine  years. 

He  was  not  handsome  in  person  ;  was  very  thin  and  slender, 
in  stature  somewhat  above  the  middle  size,  with  a  stoop  in  his 
shoulders ;  but  when  engaged  in  conversation,  or  employed  in 
the  pulpit,  there  was  a  remarkable  sprightliness  in  his  coun- 
tenance and  manner,  which  commanded  general  attrition. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


_.•-/*   A._jfl    1Qvt£ 

DEC  24  I94b 
flPT  ^  n  1074  iM 

JklV  1    V  U    UlT    Jl   *X 

A  V|p       4      'J    ?«£ 

;  |  ;    5  '  .  ,    1    .  -  BFt 

ml  «  t  iasi 

OCT  1  8  1984 

RECEJVEP  <5V 

f),:,i    ,    ,- 

YA  03840 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


m 

HKJ 


